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OpenAI ChatGPT has now made the Search feature accessible to everyone without having to be a user account holder. According to a post on X, the expansion is now allowing everyone around the globe to use the AI-based search tool to search for real-time answers from web sources.
It was initially launched in November 2024 for paid subscribers. In December 2024, a month later, OpenAI opened up the access to free-tier users. The company has now extended its availability to allow even unregistered users to make use of the tool without any restrictions.
According to OpenAI, the feature is designed to enhance accessibility, making AI-driven search available to a broader audience. With this rollout, anyone visiting the ChatGPT website can enter queries and receive responses based on real-time web searches, powered by OpenAI’s latest GPT-4o model.
How does the ChatGPT Free model feature work?
The globe icon will be available next to the 'Attach file' button within the ChatGPT text input field. By tapping the globe icon, it will automatically trigger web search mode, allowing the chatbot to fetch information from the internet and present it accordingly.
To ensure transparency, sources in ChatGPT Search are presented in two forms. A clickable icon will appear after sentences in which information is drawn from an external source so that the user can click to verify it. Additionally, sources are also provided at the bottom of every response, so there is even greater clarity and traceability.
No rate limits
There has been no announced usage limit imposed by OpenAI on unregistered users accessing the ChatGPT Search. Likewise, free-tier users are completely unrestricted in making use of this feature to download real-time data.
In the meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has issued a statement saying that its employees will not use AI tools such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek for office work. According to the news agency Reuters, citing an internal advisory on concerns over the risks to government document security and data confidentiality.