OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, a new feature to their AI chatbot software, earlier this month. This feature allows users to use Bing to search the internet for solutions to their questions. However, OpenAI just notified that they are temporarily blocking this feature due to a technical issue. The feature, named “ChatGPT Browse with Bing,” was only available to ChatGPT Plus members, which is a paid version of the chatbot. This feature was useful since it enabled ChatGPT to find the most recent information on the internet, even if it wasn’t part of its initial training. It may, for example, find information on current happenings around the world. It accomplished this by searching for information using Bing’s search engine.
“ChatGPT Browse with Bing is a beta feature (available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers) that allows ChatGPT to search the internet to help answer questions that benefit from recent information,” the business noted in an update.
OpenAI discovered that the ChatGPT Browse feature displayed information in ways that they did not want it to. For example, if a user requests the whole content of a webpage link, the chatbot may display the entire text when it is not supposed to. To avoid this, OpenAI has chosen to disable the feature on July 3, 2023. They aim to solve the problem while also respecting the rights of those who own the content on the internet. OpenAI is working diligently to restore the feature as quickly as possible, and they appreciate the users’ patience.
“As of July 3, 2023, we’ve disabled the Browse with Bing beta feature out of caution while we work to resolve this in order to do right by content owners.” We are working hard to bring the beta back as soon as possible, and we appreciate your patience!” The business went on to say.
The Browsing with Bing capability is significant since it allows ChatGPT to obtain more updated and accurate information. ChatGPT’s knowledge is restricted without this functionality to what it learnt up until 2021. As a result, if you ask ChatGPT a question about anything that happened after 2021, such as who won the 2022 FIFA World Cup, it will not be able to provide an accurate answer. It’s worth noting that some users discovered a technique to bypass paywalls by utilizing ChatGPT’s Bing interface. This implies users might have access to content that would typically be paid for without having to pay for it. Because OpenAI did not want this to happen, they opted to temporarily stop the feature while they worked on resolving the issue.