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Watch out, Google. OpenAI has beefed up its ChatGPT search tool to try to win over more people. And it may be working.
In a new support article published last Friday, OpenAI described a recent upgrade designed to improve the quality and performance of its search option. In general, ChatGPT search has been enhanced to provide more comprehensive and up-to-date responses. Based on its own testing, OpenAI said that users preferred the new search process over the previous experience.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Also: You can access ChatGPT Search without an account now - here's how
And just what are all the new features that people seem to prefer?
ChatGPT search now offers more intelligent responses, is better able to grasp what you're asking, and serves up more comprehensive answers. The AI's search mode is better equipped to handle longer conversations, so you can explore your topic more deeply. Plus, it can more adeptly follow your instructions, especially in a longer conversation, which OpenAI said dramatically reduces repetitive responses.
There's more. You can now kick off multiple searches at the same time and even search the web for information on an uploaded image.
Still, there are a few hiccups with the updated search. You may find that the AI delivers longer responses than it would previously. In some instances, ChatGPT might display a "chain of thought" reasoning, even for simple searches. This means the AI will break down a question or topic into individual chunks before it arrives at a final answer. That's a helpful process for a complex problem, but not for a simple query.
As always, though, OpenAI warns that ChatGPT may make mistakes and cautions you to double-check its responses.
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