ChatGPT drops its sign-in requirement for search

ChatGPT no longer requires you to log in to use the AI chatbot’s search engine, OpenAI announced on Wednesday. With the feature, ChatGPT will surface responses based on information from the web while presenting a list of sources it used to inform its answer.

OpenAI first launched its search engine to paid ChatGPT subscribers last October and later rolled it out to everyone in December. But now that you no longer need an account to use it, ChatGPT search will compete directly with search engines like Google and Bing.

The AI “answer” engine Perplexity also lets you search the web without an account and recently rolled out an integration that sources hotel information and ratings directly from TripAdvisor. A recent update to ChatGPT search makes it look more like a traditional search engine, allowing you to view a map and images of local attractions, along with a brief description of each result.