UPDATE: It appears as though OpenAI may have made a mistake… again. It appears as though OpenAI is removing ChatGPT Search from free accounts. This marks the second time that the company has released Search to free users only to pull it.
EARLIER: A series of reports said recently that all the big AI companies are struggling with their next-gen models, OpenAI included. As a result, the expected GPT-5 upgrade for ChatGPT might see delays. However, all the big AI firms are continuing to launch new features for their existing models, and that includes OpenAI.
Rumors say the company will soon roll out its first AI agent, which will let you control computer apps via ChatGPT. The precursor of such a tool is already available in the ChatGPT app for Mac, which can see the contents of certain coding apps. However, OpenAI is taking advantage of built-in macOS functionality rather than deploying a groundbreaking AI innovation.
Until then, we have other features to get excited about. I’m talking about ChatGPT Search, which now appears to be rolling out to free users, and Advanced Voice Mode, which is now coming to the desktop version of the app.
OpenAI announced the latter on X late on Tuesday. Advanced Voice Mode was unveiled in early May, but it didn’t hit the mobile ChatGPT apps until a few weeks ago. It took a while for OpenAI to roll it out in some markets, like the EU, where many software innovations drop later than in the US, thanks to the increased pressure from regulators.
Now, it looks like OpenAI is ready to bring Advanced Voice Mode to the ChatGPT web app. The company said the feature is rolling out to all paid users.
I’m on ChatGPT Plus, but I can’t see Advanced Voice Mode in the web app. It might take a while to arrive where I live in the EU, but it shouldn’t be too long. After all, I did finally get Advanced Voice Mode on the iPhone a couple of weeks ago.
As for ChatGPT Search, OpenAI released it to paid ChatGPT users, including Plus, Teams, and SearchGPT waitlist users. Next on the list are Enterprise and Edu users, with ChatGPT Free users to follow. That’s what OpenAI said in late October when it brought the ChatGPT Search experience out of SearchGPT testing.
Unlike Advanced Voice Mode, I got access to ChatGPT Search almost immediately. OpenAI has extensions ready for Edge and Chrome that let you turn ChatGPT Search into your default search engine.
OpenAI has not announced any updates on the ChatGPT Search availability, but certain Free users can access it. As you can see in the screenshot above, BGR has verified that ChatGPT Search is up and running for at least some US-based users who don’t pay for any premium ChatGPT Plans. That screenshot was taken by our own Executive Editor, Zach Epstein, who confirmed that Search has been working for his free account since Tuesday.
It’s either a mistake or OpenAI is slowly rolling out the feature to Free users. When ChatGPT Search first launched, it was available briefly to free users before OpenAI pulled it, so it was clearly an error. This time, we would think that ChatGPT Search is intentionally being made available to free users.
I can’t get ChatGPT Search unless I’m signed into my Plus account in Europe, but that may be because the rollout is starting in the US. Then again, I’m not seeing widespread reports about ChatGPT Search being available to free users.
Separately, Google just announced a memory feature for Gemini Advanced. This could explain OpenAI’s interest in making some of its new ChatGPT features available more widely.
