OpenAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) startup backed by Microsoft, announced that ChatGPT will now be able to browse the web, enabling it to access information beyond its previous knowledge cutoff of September 2021.
Websites will also be able to control how the chatbot interacts with content under the new browsing feature.
“Browsing is available to Plus and Enterprise users today, and we'll expand to all users soon. To enable, choose Browse with Bing in the selector under GPT-4," OpenAI said on X/Twitter.
ChatGPT can now browse the internet to provide you with current and authoritative information, complete with direct links to sources. It is no longer limited to data before September 2021. pic.twitter.com/pyj8a9HWkB
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) September 27, 2023
Earlier this week, the tech company, which was co-founded by Elon Musk, revealed that ChatGPT would be able to engage in voice conversations with users as well as send images, bringing it closer to popular AI assistants like Apple's Siri.
Testing out a new feature through Microsoft-owned Bing, OpenAI had initially allowed premium ChatGPT users access to the latest information through the search engine, but this was quickly disabled after the company realised customers were able to bypass paywalls.
ChatGPT's rapid growth in popularity, with 100 million monthly active users earlier this year, has sparked significant investor interest in OpenAI, Anthropic and, in fact, most companies involved in the AI industry.
Recent reports suggest that OpenAI has been in discussions with investors about selling existing shares at a valuation which sees the company worth around US$90 billion, around three times larger than earlier this year.