Top 3 things to try with the new ChatGPT search
ChatGPT Search (the new search engine built into ChatGPT that combines conversational AI with real-time information straight from the web) recently launched for anyone who is on the waitlist, or is a ChatGPT Plus subscriber.
Additionally, OpenAI recently improved the ChatGPT search with a brand new Google Chrome extension, meaning you can use it from the address bar. If you already use Google Chrome, this is a much more useful way to find and gather up-to-date information, while also giving you more personalized filters and a way to use that information for new and fun activities.
Here are three practical and creative ways to make the most of ChatGPT search.
1. Trend spotting
It’s impossible to keep up with every new trendy hobby, TV show, book or game I like. Add to that the things that my friends and family care about and that I want to be aware of for conversations (and birthday gift planning), and no one who isn’t a teenager can keep up, even if they spend hours on social media sit.
ChatGPT Search can now handle that for me. The AI can look up all the latest news on topics that interest me and explain the latest rumors on the topics I’m just curious about. As the AI adds more about me to its memory, it will become even better at managing those details. The question ‘What’s popular today?’ will give me the new video game buzz for games I might like, as well as the conclusion of the latest episode of Survivor, which I need to know to keep up when I go out to dinner with my in-laws.
2. Recipe roulette
I enjoy finding new recipes to try, especially when I don’t feel like going shopping and just want to use the ingredients I have on hand. ChatGPT has always had the ability to come up with meal ideas, but the hallucinations and offline database meant I never really trusted what the AI wrote. Now when I ask for specific types of dishes using the ChatGPT search, such as vegetarian meat sauce for pasta or the best methods for making gravlax, ChatGPT will not only remember previous requests and reshare them or ask if I want new ideas, but also actually use recipe websites to find them for me.
Even if I ask for recipes based on random ingredients like sweet potatoes, quinoa, and a hodgepodge of spices, the ChatGPT search will find options that suit my palette without me worrying that it will suggest rocks as an appetizer.
3. Instant trivia host
Have you ever hung out with friends and felt like playing a trivia game without having to go to a bar? Well, the ChatGPT search can use internet searches to pull together facts about everything from recent Oscar or Grammy award winners to the latest TikTok dance trends, and act as host for the evening. I’ve found that the right prompt can even cause the AI to inject some humor into the game, while the web search ensures no answers are made up.
Even if you’re not playing a game, it’s nice to have your own personal fact checker. Of course there’s Google, but the ChatGPT search means you don’t have to open a new tab or click through multiple websites (assuming Google AI Overview doesn’t have an answer). And because it looks online, you don’t have to worry so much that the reaction will be a hallucination.
