Tech giant OpenAI has changed its policy regarding who can access and use its AI chatbot, which was first launched for subscribers in October 2024 before a wider rollout two months later.

The company announced the update in a brief X post, which simply read: "ChatGPT search is now available to everyone on chatgpt.com - no sign up required."

To use the platform, users just have to hit the search button, with ChatCPT answering the question in its conversational style.

It will combine the typical AI voice with information from the internet, such as link citations and photos, which will be presented in a similar way to other search engines.

Allowing anyone to use the platform will allow ChatGPT's search engine to directly compete with the likes of Bling and Google.

When the web search feature launched in October, OpenAI promised to make it easier for people to access "fast, timely answers".

A blog post at the time read: "ChatGPT can now search the web in a much better way than before. You can get fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources, which you would have previously needed to go to a search engine for. This blends the benefits of a natural language interface with the value of up-to-date sports scores, news, stock quotes, and more."