OpenAI enters search engine market
There's been a lot of buzz around OpenAI's new SearchGPT this week, promoted as a great shift for search engines. But is it really? Not quite.
Similar new solutions, like perplexity.ai and you.com, have been around for months. If you have coding skills, you can even create your own search engine over a weekend using tools like LangChain and APIs from Bing or Google, enriched with your private documents in a RAG database. Meanwhile, Google is facing increasing challenges in maintaining high-quality search results, struggling to filter out the increasing noise generated by LLMs and bots, which makes it easier for new players to enter the field.
But here's a relevant trend to watch: companies (OpenAI, Google) are spending millions on getting access to media companies' data, or taking legal action against those who use their data without compensation.
To me, the interesting questions are:
- What are the sustainable business models that could make the next generation of search engines a long-term success?
- Will we still have easy and free access to high-quality information on the internet in the future?
Personally, I believe that a focus on customization and user-centric workflows will be key to making search more relevant to individuals and companies.