OpenAI offers free access to the "ChatGPT search feature", no need to register an account, will Google be worried?

The rapid rise of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has prompted OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, to rethink its closed-source strategy. Following the free release of the new inference model o3-mini, OpenAI announced today that the ChatGPT search feature is now open to all users without the need for subscription or registration. Last October, OpenAI first introduced the search feature to ChatGPT subscription users, then fully opened it to free users in December. Now, without the need for an account, users can compete with Google and Bing using ChatGPT Search. OpenAI has emphasized that the key difference between ChatGPT Search and traditional search engines like Google lies in the "conversation." Users can find quality sources and accurate information without the need to search multiple times for links. ChatGPT Search allows users to search for better answers through chat: you can ask questions naturally, ChatGPT will summarize responses using information from the internet, and consider the complete context of your conversation to provide better answers. To use ChatGPT Search, simply go to chatgpt.com, ask a search question, click the search button at the bottom left, and click submit on the right. For example, when searching for "Taiwan's crypto world news today," ChatGPT Search will immediately display real-time news headlines and highlights including those from BlockTempo in the crypto world. Click on the URL at the bottom right of each news article to view the news source. When asking questions in Chinese, ChatGPT will mainly search Chinese websites and provide Chinese search results. If the same question is asked in English, the search results will be in English, all sourced from foreign news. For users, the main difference between ChatGPT's AI search function and Google search lies in the information processing. Through different questions, ChatGPT will organize, summarize, and provide direct answers, reducing the time users spend filtering information. However, users need to be cautious about virtual illusions or single-answer questions. Google, on the other hand, provides a large number of web results, requiring users to verify and compare sources themselves.