In a post on Platform X, OpenAI informs that ChatGPT now has access to the Internet, which is a significant expansion of its capabilities. With this new feature, the chatbot can provide users with up-to-date information in real time, which significantly increases its usefulness and relevance. This update allows ChatGPT to base natural language responses not only on existing knowledge through September 2021, but also to access up-to-date Internet content and resources.
A notable new feature is that ChatGPT is now able to provide its answers with links to the appropriate sources. This allows users to verify the information provided by ChatGPT and get further details. This step greatly improves the transparency and credibility of the answers provided by ChatGPT.
OpenAI has implemented numerous extensions as part of this development, including the internal “Browsing with ChatGPT” project. However, these extensions are generally chargeable and are only available to paying subscribers. This includes the web-access version of ChatGPT, which is now available to Plus and Enterprise account holders. This paid option allows users to take full advantage of ChatGPT’s web capabilities and benefit from its extensive knowledge base.
OpenAI emphasizes that since the launch of “Browsing with ChatGPT”, a large amount of feedback has been received from users. This feedback has been used to make continuous improvements. These include, for example, implementing robots.txt compliance measures and identifying user agents. This allows websites to control how ChatGPT interacts with them and ensure that interactions comply with applicable rules and policies. This underscores OpenAI’s commitment to promoting ethical and responsible use of its technology.
OpenAI also explains that integrating the browsing feature is extremely useful, especially in certain use cases. One example is travel planning, where ChatGPT can provide valuable assistance by accessing up-to-date information from the Internet. This scenario is often cited as a vivid example of what AI applications can do. Companies such as Google and Microsoft already use similar technologies in their search engines and chatbots to provide users with up-to-date and relevant information. With ChatGPT’s Internet access, OpenAI users can now also benefit from this enhanced functionality.
