The company is reintroducing ChatGPT’s internet browsing capability even though over a quarter of the top 1,000 websites have blocked its web crawler.
OpenAI has announced an update for its ChatGPT users. Enterprise and users will soon be able to ask the chatbot for the latest information, complete with links to live online sources. This move signifies OpenAI’s commitment to ensuring its users have access to the most recent data. This new browsing feature will soon be available to the broader ChatGPT user community.
While this feature might seem new, it’s a return with improvements. Earlier, the company had initiated an internet browsing capability for ChatGPT Plus users. However, the feature was momentarily paused in July due to certain complications and unfavourable user feedback. The company, being transparent about the halt, mentioned in a post, “We are disabling Browse while we fix this — want to do right by content owners.”
Since its debut in November 2022, ChatGPT has been at the forefront of the generative AI movement. Its popularity has surged, and many contenders have emerged to ride the wave. However, a significant criticism of enterprise adoption has been the model’s inability to provide updated information. Additionally, concerns arose about the model’s access to the internet. In light of the concerns, the company provided guidelines on how enterprises could prevent its web crawler, GPTBot, from accessing their sites. Data from Originality.ai reveals that over a quarter of the top 1,000 websites now block GPTBot. This web crawler aims to refine future models and sidestep sources demanding paywall access or those known for harvesting personal data.
OpenAI continues to innovate as the landscape of generative AI evolves. The company recently unveiled voice and image functionalities for ChatGPT for its Enterprise and users. Although this feature will be extended to a broader audience, including developers, the timeline remains unspecified.
