ChatGPT wants to take on Google but with Google's own tools

Since the introduction of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022, Google's position as the leader in online search has faced increasing scrutiny. The momentum shifted further when OpenAI enhanced ChatGPT with search capabilities, intensifying concerns that AI might disrupt Google's search market. In a recent conversation with The Verge, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, boldly claimed he hasn't used Google Search in some time, highlighting ChatGPT's advanced functionalities. However, a new report from The Information reveals a surprising twist: OpenAI has reportedly been utilizing data sourced from Google Search to enhance ChatGPT's ability to respond to real-time inquiries related to news, sports, and finance—areas where its own tools may not yet excel. This data extraction is allegedly facilitated through SerpApi, a commercial web-scraping service that provides developers with real-time search engine results. Notably, SerpApi has also served high-profile clients such as Meta, Apple, and Perplexity. Previously, SerpApi listed OpenAI among its clients, but that mention has since been removed. In a related incident, former Google engineer Abhishek Iyer demonstrated how ChatGPT accesses Google Search data by creating dummy web pages that only appeared in Google's index. When prompted with queries about these pages, ChatGPT successfully retrieved information from them. OpenAI has claimed that its search functionality primarily relies on its proprietary web crawler, along with data from Bing and partnerships with news and content providers. Yet, during the anti-trust trial against Google last year, ChatGPT's head, Nick Turley, acknowledged that they had sought access to Google's search index, but this request was denied. He also noted existing quality issues with Microsoft’s search results, emphasizing that access to Google's underlying data would significantly enhance their own search index development.