OpenAIAI FeatureConfirmedHigh impact
ChatGPT search launch
OpenAI shipped web search inside ChatGPT for paying users, with in-line citations and source sidebars.
What changed
ChatGPT search graduated from the SearchGPT prototype, giving ChatGPT automatic access to current web results with linked citations and a source panel. It launched for Plus and Team subscribers and was extended to all logged-in free users on 16 December 2024. For publishers it created a second large-scale AI answer surface with its own crawler controls via OAI-SearchBot, and generated a measurable, if small, new referral channel.
Timing
Rollout began 31 October 2024. No completion date was announced. Rankings typically remain unstable for the whole rollout window, so measurements taken inside it are not a reliable read on the outcome.