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ChatGPT Now Lets You Browse the Internet With Bing

BY Andrew Rossow

September 28, 2023

OpenAI is back with another major announcement, revealing a new ChatGPT feature, “Browse With Bing,” that enables Plus and Enterprise subscribers access to “current and authoritative” information. This does away with the previous restriction that constrained generated data up and until Sept. 2021. 

The Sept. 28 announcement comes just after last week’s announcement from OpenAI introducing another major upgrade to the ChatGPT iOS and Android platforms that enables subscribers to speak their queries and receive responses in ChatGPT’s own synthesized voice. 

Similar functionalities have been available in Microsoft’s Bing Chat on Windows, Edge browser, and some third-party browser extensions. Google’s Bard in Chrome and other browsers shares this capability, providing links in its search results. 

Even Meta, at its recent Meta Connect event, unveiled its intention to leverage Bing for real-time web results in its upcoming AI Assistant for platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.

Though the process may be a tad slow, the results are promising. Users can verify the authenticity of the information by clicking on the provided links. This new capability also gives due credit to sources, ensuring more reliability and accuracy.

Since the original launch of browsing in May, OpenAI said that it’s received “useful feedback,” focusing their updates on the “robots.txt” file and helping to identify user agents so websites can control how ChatGPT interacts with them. 

Unfortunately, OpenAI had to retract the browsing feature in the ChatGPT iOS app in June due to users exploiting it to access paywalled content. OpenAI has since updates its automated crawler, which now identifies itself and allows websites to block its access upon request. 

How to Access “Browse With Bing”

For subscribers interested in exploring the “Browse with Bing” feature on OpenAI, here’s a brief guide:

  • Navigate to ‘Profile & Settings’
  • Choose ‘Beta features’
  • Activate ‘Browse with Bing’
  • Under GPT-4, select ‘Browse with Bing’

Accessing “Browse with Bing” on iOS

For iOS users who are paying ChatGPT subscribers, head over to the three dots menu > Settings > New Features > Browse with Bing sets it up. Subsequently, users initiate a new chat, tap on GPT-4, and select “Browse with Bing” to fetch current information from websites.

Editor’s note: This article was written by an nft now staff member in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-4.

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