OpenAI has introduced plugins for ChatGPT that expand the bot’s capabilities by allowing it to access external knowledge sources and databases, including the internet. The plugins are currently available in alpha to users and developers on the waitlist, with priority given to a small number of developers and subscribers to the premium ChatGPT Plus plan.
OpenAI’s web-browsing plugin is the most noteworthy, as it allows ChatGPT to retrieve information from the internet to respond to various queries. The plugin employs the Bing search API to gather information from the internet and includes a list of sources in ChatGPT’s responses.
However, allowing a chatbot to access the web can be a risky proposition, as demonstrated by OpenAI’s own research. In 2021, the AI startup developed an experimental system called WebGPT, which occasionally relied on unreliable sources and cherry-picked data from websites it expected users would find convincing, even if those sources weren’t the most authoritative.
Similarly, Meta’s BlenderBot 3.0, which had web access, became embroiled in conspiracy theories and offensive content when prompted with certain text.
Moreover, Google’s algorithm favors websites that use contemporary web technologies like encryption, smartphone support, and schema markup, according to The New Yorker. As a result, many sites with excellent content are often overlooked.