OpenAI recently announced they’re working on a new product called SearchGPT. It’s currently in prototype, and there is a waitlist to get into an eventual beta. This looks very similar to what Perplexity is doing: using artificial intelligence tools to conduct web searches in response to your questions and providing you, instead of a collection of links, a simple answer with links to the resources and justification for the answer.

I was invested in Perplexity until it became apparent they were scraping parts of the web without anybody’s permission. That doesn’t change the fact that this type of service, done right, is superior to traditional search. I think it is only a matter of time before most of us search this way.

Of course, OpenAI is getting in on the action. Google is already trying the same thing. At this point, the race is on to provide this new method of getting answers out of the internet faster and more accurately. I don’t know who will make the best version of this widget, but I sure hope it is a horse race. When Google emerged as the search engine triumphant, we stopped getting real competition for decades.

I bring this up partly because of the recent antitrust ruling against Google. I’ve heard from several readers asking if Apple will create its own search engine if they’re no longer allowed to make that sweet deal with Google. I don’t think so.

Search engines are yesterday’s news. If I had to bet a nickel, though, Apple will ultimately partner with AI Search engines the same way it is now partnering with Large Language Models companies.

Apple could try to build its own AI search technology, but from the outside, it looks like it’s not far enough along to make anything competitive with the work being done by others. Also, even if Apple could make something equal to or better than other AI Search technologies, using it exclusively would likely land it in regulatory hot water.