SearchGPT is OpenAI's new search engine. Here's how to try it.

SearchGPT has arrived. OpenAI took a significant step in its mission to bring AI tools to more users with the announcement of its new AI-powered search engine on Thursday. The company revealed on its website that it is now accepting signups for an early version of SearchGPT. OpenAI emphasized that this is just a prototype, with the best features from the testing phase set to be incorporated into ChatGPT in the future.

How to try SearchGPT

Users who want to try SearchGPT can sign up now, but the feature is not yet available for testing.

As for how SearchGPT works, it's similar to ChatGPT. You type in a query, the AI scours the internet, and then tries to bring back a variety of helpful results in a visually clean and appealing way. Users can allegedly respond to results with conversational follow-ups to get even more specific results.

As always with OpenAI, there will be concerns about accuracy and sourcing, even before the product has launched. For instance, CNBC's Kif Leswing pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that some of the example search results given in the announcement post are inaccurate, misleading, or not helpful. OpenAI also promises "clear links to relevant sources" in results, but that can't be judged until the product is available.

OpenAI has a long way to go before it can reasonably call itself a Google competitor, but this may be a promising first step.