OpenAI finally allows ChatGPT complete internet access through the "Browse with Bing" feature

OpenAI has announced that its ChatGPT chatbot now has access to the internet through the "Browse with Bing" feature, available to Plus and Enterprise edition users, according to the Gizmodo website.

This allows ChatGPT to retrieve up-to-date information rather than relying solely on pre-September 2021 training data.

While there were existing plugins and applications enabling internet access for ChatGPT, this official release signifies OpenAI's confidence in the AI's ethical constraints when exposed to the best and worst of the internet.

The feature is accessible to subscribers of the $20 monthly subscription plan on both web and mobile versions.

As Microsoft's Bing browser already features ChatGPT, there is integration happening between the two platforms. Additionally, OpenAI has integrated its AI image generator DALL-E 3 into ChatGPT, allowing users to create deepfakes and art through the chatbot's user interface.

The feature had originally entered a beta phase in May but was temporarily halted due to unwanted content and potential bypassing of the paywall. It was re-released in September with new speech-to-text capabilities and image comprehension.

While ChatGPT might be able to identify the parts of a bicycle, it has a harder time interpreting people.

One thread on the r/ChatGPT subreddit asked the chatbot to identify the social dynamics of two images taken from a sexual harassment training course. An obviously unwanted hand on a woman’s shoulder was interpreted as a man “offering comfort or reassurance.” 

With competition from all over knocking at its door, OpenAI continues to add features at a breakneck pace. In November, the company is reportedly planning to add more memory storage and vision capabilities to the enterprise developer model of ChatGPT.

These updates could be announced at the company’s developer conference on Nov. 6.