What is ChatGPT?
TL;DR
ChatGPT is an AI assistant by OpenAI that generates conversational answers. With its Browse and Search features, it can access and cite current web content.
Last updated: 2026-03-09
Definition#
ChatGPT is an AI assistant built by OpenAI. It uses large language models (GPT-4, GPT-4o) to generate conversational, human-like answers to questions. It is one of the most widely used AI tools in the world, with hundreds of millions of users.
With its Browse feature, ChatGPT can search the web in real time, read web pages, and cite them in its answers. This makes it a major driver of AI visibility for websites. When ChatGPT cites your page, millions of users may see your brand.
OpenAI uses GPTBot to crawl websites for training data and OAI-SearchBot for real-time search results. Both bots are controlled through your robots.txt file.
Why It Matters for AI Readiness#
ChatGPT is one of the largest sources of AI citations. Being cited by ChatGPT can drive significant traffic and brand awareness. Your AI Readiness Score directly influences your likelihood of being cited — well-structured, authoritative sites with clear answers are more likely to be selected.
Allow GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot in your robots.txt to ensure your content is accessible to ChatGPT's crawlers and search systems.
Related Concepts#
ChatGPT is powered by LLMs and uses RAG for real-time web access. It competes with Perplexity and Google AI for user attention.
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