ALBAWABA – Microsoft-backed Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot developer OpenAI announced Wednesday that ChatGPT users can now browse the internet, which would expand the bot’s access to the worldwide web beyond its earlier cutoff date of September 2021.
"Browsing is available to Plus and Enterprise users today, and we'll expand to all users soon. To enable, choose Browse with Bing in the selector under GPT-4," OpenAI said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Accordingly, the bot’s latest browsing feature would allow websites to control how ChatGPT can interact with them, Reuters reported.
The startup also announced a major update earlier this week that would enable ChatGPT to have voice conversations with users and interact with them using images.
ChatGPT users can now browse the internet which would expand the bot's access to the internet and the data available worldwide - Shutterstock
OpenAI had earlier tested a feature that allowed users to access the latest information through the Bing search engine within its premium ChatGPT Plus offering. But it later disabled it because of fears that it could allow users to bypass paywalls, according to Reuters.
ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history earlier this year, reaching 100 million monthly active users in January, before being supplanted by Meta's Threads app.
Its rise has driven up investor interest in OpenAI. Media, including Reuters, reported on Tuesday that the startup is talking to shareholders about a possible sale of existing shares at a much higher valuation than a few months ago.
