OpenAI says ChatGPT can now browse the internet

The news: Users of ChatGPT will now be able to surf the web after owner OpenAI added a browsing feature that expands the data the viral chatbot can access beyond its earlier September 2021 cutoff.

The numbers: Online browsing is initially available to ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise users through the Browse with Bing option but will be expanded to all users soon, the Microsoft-backed AI startup said in a social media post. ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history earlier this year, reaching 100 million monthly active users in January, before being superseded by Meta's Threads app.

The context: OpenAI said its latest browsing feature would allow websites to control how ChatGPT can interact with them. It had previously tested a feature allowing users to access the latest information through the Bing search engine within its premium ChatGPT Plus offering but later disabled it because of fears that it could allow users to bypass paywalls. The latest change follows a major update earlier this week that would enable ChatGPT to have voice conversations with users and interact with them using images.