With OpenAI's announcement that it is adding search engine capabilities to ChatGPT, the way we search the Internet is about to change dramatically.

We can expect some teething problems, but in general, be prepared for a more conversational experience that gives you the actual answer to your question, not a list of links that may (or may not) contain the information you are looking for.

This approach eliminates endless tabs to track search results and makes it easier for users to ask follow-up questions that are not possible with traditional search.

Behind the scenes, it will be interesting to see how search engine optimization (SEO)-focused websites adapt to this new era of search.

Chatbots will still need to have something to search for and information to be collected to be able to answer questions. In other words, the situation will not change dramatically from one day to the next, but definitely be prepared to watch as different websites adapt to this new reality.

While you wait your turn to access SearchGPT (you can join the waiting list here), here are some alternatives available to you.

Before OpenAI announced its focus on search, Perplexity was arguably the chatbot most associated with web search capabilities.

Perplexity uses elements of both Google and ChatGPT to provide answers to questions while also providing links to sources you can refer to if you need to dig deeper.

If you stick with what search experts have created through trial and error, Google's Gemini seems like a safe choice. Recently updated with new policy guidelines after an AI search mishap (yes, I am referring to the incident of adding glue to pizza), Gemini can leverage search extensions to give you the best results.

Still want to double check your answer? With one click you can double-check with Google search results.

Formerly called Bing Chat, Microsoft's Copilot lets you search the web as if you were having a casual conversation with a friend. It is also designed to answer multi-part questions. For example, if you wanted to know where the Olympics are being held this year (Paris) and the 100m final (this Sunday), you used to have to ask Bing two separate questions. With Co-Pilot, you can combine both questions into one, and still get a reply.

Given its partnership with Microsoft, OpenAI is likely to use elements of Bing's underlying technology in SearchGPT, which could yield similar results.

Just because we do not yet have access to SearchGPT (which is set up as a temporary tool) does not mean that ChatGPT cannot be used as a search engine in its current form, although ChatGPT's training data is supposed to last until October 2023, more recent information can be retrieved and verified using the browsing tool.

As a somewhat less well-known alternative to the above options, you.com emerged in 2022 as a search engine that summarizes the web and promises better privacy. Today, it has evolved and is a cross between ChatGPT and Gemini.

Although not as well known as these chatbots, you.com has its own features and can handle most Internet searches well.