ChatGPT’s AI search engine is rolling out to everyone

ChatGPT’s AI search engine is rolling out to all users starting today. OpenAI announced the news as part of its newest 12 days of ship-mas livestream, while also revealing an “optimized” version of the feature on mobile and the ability to search with advanced voice mode.

ChatGPT’s search engine first rolled out to paid subscribers in October. It will now be available at the free tier, though you have to have an account and be logged in.

One of the improvements for search on mobile makes ChatGPT look more like a traditional search engine. When looking for a particular location, like restaurants or local attractions, ChatGPT will display a list of results with accompanying images, ratings, and hours. Clicking on a location will pull up more information about the spot, and you can also view a map with directions from directly within the app.

Another feature aims to make ChatGPT search faster when you’re looking for certain kinds of sites, such as “hotel booking websites.” Instead of generating a response right away, ChatGPT will surface links to websites before taking the time to provide more information about each option. Additionally, ChatGPT can also automatically provide up-to-date information from the web when using Advanced Voice Mode, though that’s only available to paid users.

In earlier livestreams, OpenAI also announced the launch of its text-to-image model Sora and rolled out a $200 per month ChatGPT Pro subscription.