Steve?

Hey there, Dom.

Yeah, OpenAI is getting into the search business.

They just announced here in a blog post minutes ago that they were testing a prototype version of a search product.

You can see Google Shares just reacting here, down better than 2% now as soon as this announcement crossed.

This looks like it's an early version.

They're having users sign up for a wait list.

If you've ever used the app from the startup Perplexity, Dom, you're probably very familiar with how these AI search engines work.

You ask a question, it gives you the direct answer.

You can ask follow-up questions.

You're seeing some examples here from the OpenAI product here.

And then it also pulls in real-time results from the web and gives you the sources from those results as well.

OpenAI here says they are working with publishers and other websites to make sure they have proper access to all of this information and properly credited and so forth.

It does sound like early days, but just the fact that OpenAI here is getting involved in the search business, you can see what it's doing here to Google.

By the way, OpenAI's biggest investor, Microsoft, they own 49% of OpenAI, they just announced a similar feature that I'm talking about right now for their Bing search engine just yesterday.

So this is a very hot item for search.

By the way, the Alphabet earnings just a couple of days ago, Dom, they were talking about their AI search product and how that's driving engagement, but still very few details whether or not that's going to be a big moneymaker for Google.

But we clearly see what the market thinks with OpenAI getting into the search game, Dom.

Steve, this was also something people were worried about a while ago, and now it's finally here.

But I think it goes to the broader anxiety about whether AI is a friend or foe for big tech.

And I think the assumption is it's mostly a friend.

They have the resources, they can bulk it out, they can do whatever they need to.

But between the spend on the build-out that Alphabet spooked people about the other night, and now the fact that OpenAI is launching a direct competitor, it makes for sort of unhappy considerations this week.

Yeah, and look, we heard this over a year ago too, Kelly, when Microsoft put out their OpenAI-powered version of Bing.

It was a chatbot.

And remember at the time, this was early last year, Microsoft had a bunch of great things to say and predictions.

This is going to help us gain market share against Google.

This is going to be a big boost for Bing.

That never materialized.

We haven't seen it really eat into the market share of Google.

It's so early to tell what this OpenAI product is going to be able to do or not do compared to what Google is already working on.

But just the fact that the leader in artificial intelligence is out here announcing formally that it is getting into the search business, that's enough to rattle.

It's almost on 2.5% now, Kelly.

Steve, this is also not just about the actual product itself, these generative AI type models and applications, but also the distribution of them to get them into the most amount of hands possible.

Big tech seems to be the best poised for that distribution of generative AI, artificial intelligence in general.

What exactly do we think we need to see in that distribution side of things?

Yeah, well, we're already seeing that with OpenAI.

They have that deal with Apple to put chat GPT on just about every modern iPhone, starting with last year's phones and presumably on into this year.

So that's part of it.

But that's just the chat bot.

They would need the kind of deals that we already see Google making with the platforms like Android phones, which is, of course, owned by Google, and then also on iOS and other computers and PCs to get into those web browsers and cut a deal and say, hey, include us as at least an option for the default search engine.

Google has most of those deals locked up to be the default search engine.

They pay enormous amounts of money to folks like Apple, Firefox and so forth to be that default search engine.

OpenAI doesn't necessarily have that kind of cash to pay for it.

But again, this is just a test.

We'll see how they plan to distribute it later, whether that's an app or something else.

I'll go back to perplexity, though.

This is a really hot startup that's got a lot of attention.

It's a really good product.

They've run into some issues about sourcing and things like that.

But that seems to be and that's just a standalone app and a website doesn't have any distribution deal.

And it's relatively successful.

So we'll see if there's interest in this.

But and you can sign up and try it.

But it's a little too early to tell.

But you are you are right, Dom.

They do need to have a distribution deal in order to at least even think about getting into Google's search market.

And then we have more time.

We got to talk about the content that goes into it as well and the deals that news organizations are signing.

They're claiming they have those deals and they're saying that they're going to credit them properly.

That's what OpenAI says in this blog post.

Can we use it now, Steve?

Is it live?

No, you can sign up for a wait list.

OK.

All right.

OK.

Thank you very much, Steve Kovach, for the news there on, I guess, SearchGPT, we're going to call that right.