--- title: "OpenAI Reveals AI-Powered Search Engine, Which Instantly Makes Factual Mistake in Demo" description: "OpenAI entered the AI search market this week with a prototype of a search tool called SearchGPT. There's an error in its demo." date: "2024-07-26" modified: "2024-07-26" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-ai-search-engine-makes-factual-mistake" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai" - "ai search" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI Reveals AI-Powered Search Engine, Which Instantly Makes Factual Mistake in Demo ![OpenAI entered the AI search market this week with a prototype of a search tool called SearchGPT. There's an error in its demo.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## So Close! ChatGPT creator OpenAI has officially entered the AI search competition with SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine prototype that, according to the company's [announcement](), is designed to "combine the strength of our AI models with information from the web to give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources." But doing so without hiccups could take a while. This prototype, for instance, still has a long way to go: as [caught by *The Atlantic*](), SearchGPT didn't even manage to get through its own demo without making a factual error. Per the magazine, a [30-second demo video]() of a user using SearchGPT to look for "music festivals in boone north carolina in august" returned the suggestion that music-loving North Carolinians might consider attending an event called "An Appalachian Summer Festival," which the AI says will start in late July and continue through mid-August of this year. Sounds like fun! Sadly, though, as the *Atlantic* correctly notes, the festival actually ends tomorrow — and started in June. And so, with a sigh, we add SearchGPT to the [ever-growing]() [list]() of generative AI demo blunders. If AI companies might learn anything from the news publishers with which they're looking to ink data licensing deals, it's that fact-checking before publishing is generally good practice. ## Small Potatoes A spokesperson for OpenAI told the *Atlantic* that SearchGPT, which is not yet open to the broader public, is "an initial prototype," and that OpenAI will "keep improving it." It's also worth noting that this was the only error in SearchGPT's festival lineup. But as far as searches go, compiling a list of music festivals to take place in Boone, a relatively small mountain town with a [population]() below 20,000 people, is a pretty small-potatoes query. It'll presumably be more difficult, or at least [more consequential](), for OpenAI to ensure that queries for information like real-time news will return accurate and well-sourced results — though that's likely where OpenAI's publisher licensing deals will ideally come in. Again, SearchGPT is far from the only chatbot, or chatbot-powered search product, to make a factual mistake. Google's "[AI Overview]()" and Perplexity's "[Answer Engine]()" have been found to confidently spew inaccuracies — or even unprompted fairytales about [glowing mushrooms]() — in their responses. But regardless of SearchGPT's errors, or the errors of its contemporaries, that OpenAI has introduced it at all sends a message: AI search doesn't really work yet, but it's here nonetheless. **More on AI and search:** [*Google's Head of Search Tells Employees That AI Will Keep Making Absurd Mistakes, but They’re Gonna Keep Pushing It Out*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()