ChatGPT’s alternative to Google Search might arrive on May 9

With the AI war between Google Gemini and Microsoft’s ChatGPT escalating, rumors pointing to a May 9 unveiling of a new ChatGPT-powered web search offering have surfaced, setting the stage for a direct challenge to Google’s search dominance.

A Reddit user spotted the creation of SSL certificates for the domain search.chatgpt.com. We also found a tweet by an AI podcast host reading, “Search (dot) ChatGPT (dot) com May 9th,” hinting at a potential release date. The subdomain mentioned currently displays a cryptic “Not found” message instead of throwing a 404 or domain error, further adding to the speculation.

While we don’t have any more details so far, the idea of OpenAI launching a search engine makes strategic sense. Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, has so far failed to meaningfully challenge Google’s search dominance through Bing alone. A few months ago, The Information reported that OpenAI has been developing a web search product partly powered by Bing.

These recent developments could signal that this very product is close to launch. From what we’ve gathered so far, this new ChatGPT-based search product could provide AI-powered summaries and quick results, much like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE).

May 9 isn’t far away, so we’ll soon discover what OpenAI has in store for us. Meanwhile, let us know what you think about a ChatGPT-powered search engine.