OpenAI to Launch AI Search Product Next Week, Potentially Ahead of Google I/O Conference

OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence research organization backed by Microsoft, is set to unveil its new AI search product on Monday, May 13. This announcement has sparked significant interest within the tech community, according to Reuters.

The new search tool has been developed in secrecy and is expected to leverage technology from Microsoft Bing. Since last year, Microsoft has integrated OpenAI’s technology into Bing, and this launch is anticipated to showcase the fruits of their collaboration.

Notably, OpenAI has chosen to launch its product just before the Google I/O developer conference, where Google plans to introduce a range of AI products, including updates to its search engine. This timing puts considerable pressure on Google.

Reports from Bloomberg and The Information indicate that OpenAI is actively recruiting AI search developers from Google, aiming to create a powerful tool that can utilize resources like Wikipedia to provide answers in both text and image formats. This feature would deliver more comprehensive and enriched search results.

In the realm of AI search, OpenAI will face competition from the startup Perplexity, founded by former OpenAI researchers. Perplexity is currently valued at around $1 billion, with its search engine attracting over 10 million monthly active users, demonstrating strong market viability.

As AI technology continues to evolve, the search engine market is undergoing a transformation. It remains to be seen how OpenAI’s new product will compete with traditional search engines like Google and whether it can disrupt the market. We look forward to learning more details at OpenAI's launch event on Monday.