Use web search in a chat
When you chat with an assistant, it answers from what it already knows and the materials you have added. Web search lets it look things up on the live web for that chat as well, so it can bring in current information when you need it. You switch it on yourself, one chat at a time, from the Tools menu. As a teacher you have it in your own chats; your students do not get it in their sessions.
Switching it on takes a few seconds. You do not need any technical knowledge.
Before you start
You need a chat where the Tools button appears: the chat on your home screen, or the chat where you try an assistant while you build it. Web search works one chat at a time, so decide whether you really want current information from the web for what you are about to ask, or whether your own materials already cover it.
Build web search into a chat
Web search is a switch on the message box, not a setting you save. You turn it on for the chat you are in, send your questions, and turn it off again when you are done. Work through it in order.
1. Open the Tools menu
In the chat, find the message box and click the Tools button (the gear icon). A small menu opens with the tools you can add to this chat.
2. Turn on Web search
In the menu, choose Web search. A blue Web search chip appears above the message box to show it is on. From now on, in this chat, the assistant can look things up on the web as it answers.
3. Ask your question
Type your message and send it as usual. When web search is on, the assistant can bring in current information from the web alongside what it already knows and the materials you have added.
4. Turn it back off
When you no longer need it, click the X on the Web search chip. The chip disappears and the assistant goes back to answering from what it knows and your materials.
Data & safety
Web search is yours, as the teacher. It is available in the chat on your home screen and in the chat where you try an assistant, not in the sessions your students use, so turning it on does not open the web to your class. Web search reaches out to the live internet for that chat, so use it when you want current information and rely on your own materials when you want answers grounded only in what you teach. The assistant can still be wrong, so treat what it brings back as a starting point you check, the same as any other answer.
Tips
- Turn web search on only when you actually need something current. For most subject questions, your own materials give more focused answers than the open web.
- It is a per-chat switch, not a saved setting. If you open a new chat, turn it on again when you need it.
- Your students never see web search in their sessions. If you want them to work from specific sources, add those as materials to the assistant instead.
Troubleshooting
I cannot find the Tools button. Web search lives behind the Tools button (the gear icon) in the message box. It appears in the chat on your home screen and in the chat where you try an assistant. It is not in your students' sessions, so you will not find it there.
The assistant did not search the web. Check that the blue Web search chip is showing above the message box before you send. Without the chip, the assistant answers from what it already knows and your materials. Turn it on from the Tools menu and send again.
My students asked for web search. Web search is a teacher tool and does not appear in student sessions. If a topic needs outside sources, add them as materials to the assistant so every student works from the same set.