Each week we’ll gather headlines and tips to keep you current with how generative AI affects PR and the world at large. If you have ideas on how to improve the newsletter, let us know!
What You Should Know
ChatGPT Ushers in a New Era of Search Engines
Last week, OpenAI released a search function that significantly changes how we retrieve information on the internet. ChatGPT previously had some level of internet access, but it wasn’t really as good as a search engine like Google — even though Google isn’t always helpful and clutters its results with sponsored content and alternative suggestions. CEO Sam Altman posted, “I am cheerfully the first to admit when we ship something that isn’t very good, but this time it’s…really good.”
ChatGPT search works with GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini (not o1, GPT-4, or GPT-4o with canvas). You activate it by clicking the globe icon in the text bar and typing out your search, just like you would on a search engine. ChatGPT search adds graphics for some results, like weather forecasts and real-time stock prices, and will otherwise present answers in paragraph form with clickable buttons to cite its sources.
Perplexity and Google’s AI overviews preceded OpenAI’s entry into AI search, but ChatGPT is far more accurate than Google’s AI-generated results and is a platform that’s already familiar to more than 200 million users (dwarfing Perplexity’s 15 million).
The new (more accurate and easy-to-use) era of AI search underscores the growing importance of making content consumable for AI tools. Organizations may need to adapt their strategies from traditional search engine optimization (SEO) to AI optimization by focusing on high-quality, trustworthy, well-structured content that AI can easily parse and use to provide accurate, authoritative responses.
Elsewhere …
- PODCAST: Why Under-Investing in AI Could Be Your Biggest Risk
- You Can Now Try Out Microsoft’s New AI-powered Xbox Chatbot
- How AI Is Being Used to Respond to Natural Disasters in Cities
- Google Claims World First As AI Finds 0-Day Security Vulnerability
- How ChatGPT Search Paves the Way for AI Agents
Tips and Tricks
Where was that prompt again?
What’s happening: OpenAI has made one of its least technical new developments, but one that makes a big impact: ChatGPT prompts are now searchable. Many AI tools already have this capability and it was a big pain point that is now solved for ChatGPT users.
How it works: To the left of the “new chat” notepad and pen icon users now see a magnifying glass icon (you can also use the shortcut Ctrl+K on a PC or Cmd+K on a Mac). If you click on that, it brings up a window that lists chats from the past seven days, with an option to type what you’re searching for at the top.
Be aware: Many search functions allow you to hit enter and bring up a page of results, like you’d find on a search engine. ChatGPT doesn’t work that way. The results populate as you’re typing. If you click off that pop-up window, you lose the results and have to click the magnifying glass icon again to bring them back.
Quote of the Week
“Frankly, looking back every year, I’m surprised by use cases that popped up that I did not even anticipate. I expect there will be quite a few surprises that you know none of us could predict.”
— Olivier Godement, Head of Product at OpenAI, to MIT Technology Review on where AI is headed next
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