Remember when the biggest downside of ChatGPT was not being able to source content published after 2021?
Well, those days might be over soon — OpenAI now has internet access.
Ah, finally
OpenAI’s first-party web browser plugin lets ChatGPT source data from “plugged websites” using the Bing search API, then provide answers with citations.
Who can use it
The plugin is already open to users and developers who got on the waitlist. ChatGPT Plus subscribers and select partners will get dibs before the API gets wide release.
Big gains
Thanks to OpenAI, Microsoft has seen a 15% increase in page visits since releasing AI-powered search.
Meanwhile, visits to Google’s search engine fell by 1%. A coincidence?
Why we care
Sounds like content marketing research is about to get a lot faster, and hopefully more accurate. Still, you’ll want to be careful about your sources. Just because something was published on the web and cited by AI doesn’t mean it’s true!
Oh, and keep posting relevant, up-to-date information so your website can be cited as a source.
Of course, this plugin could affect how we’ve been using search engines. It could remove multiple touch points and maybe even render web browsers obsolete, for example.
But we’ll see. In the meantime, just keep one eye on this space.
