ChatGPT takes on Google’s AI Search with new Shopping Research

Just months after Google rolled out its big AI-powered overhaul to Search, the original online AI heavyweight, ChatGPT, has fired back with a new feature of its own – Shopping Research.

Now to be clear, in part this makes me utterly uneasy.

Ask ChatGPT something about features of some gadgets or a thing you’re looking to buy – perhaps a question like “Which headphones have the best noise cancelling” and let’s be honest, ChatGPT is a computer, it’s not heard any of them – so it’s “scraping” its data from the internet, and likely sites like the one you’re reading right now.

Will people still come to read those reviews? Some will. Will people getting the AI results see the link to EFTM and click it – rarely if ever.

So ChatGPT making a product, and making money from source information like this site troubles me.

Likewise, does it open ChatGPT up to being suckered into marketing guff on retailer websites and taking it as human review?

A debate for another day.

The bigger picture is ChatGPT going out and finding you those products and the best deals.

I tested this out this morning asking “what’s the best deal on a 100 inch Hisense”.

ChatGPT then went off and started it’s research – asking me a couple of clarifying questions first:

I could then see in real time what sites it was visiting and “reading”

Before getting a result on screen:

Interestingly, that wasn’t the best deal online – using a site we told you about recently JBBuddy – I searched there, and found it for around 0 less!

Baby steps perhaps.

But you can also use it to find SIMILAR items or just be more vague about your search and have it help you shop.

It’s a FASCINATING time for both search and the web, and we’re really only at the start of the real new internet – which I think will be unrecognisable from what we use and see today.

You need ChatGPT Pro, and can access the Shopping Research button by clicking the + on the chat bar.