February 2023 Newsletter
Faceted search for API customers
Now available!
Search filtering (faceted search) is now available via our Results API! You will be able to offer filters on your results page using text fields from our index, such as tags, audience, content type, and custom fields. Read our API documentation and reach out to our team search@gsa.gov if you would like to start setting this feature up on your website.
ChatGPT and AI search
What we know so far
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT has been dominating news headlines for the last few months, especially as search engines like Bing and Google introduce their plans to incorporate AI to improve searchers’ ability to find information. As exciting and potentially revolutionary as AI in search might be, there have also been examples of inaccurate information and inappropriate dialogue that raise serious concerns with widespread adoption of this technology.
Search.gov’s mission is to connect people to the government services they need, acting as a bridge to authoritative information. Our goal is to get people to government processes managed by our agency partners, rather than giving them our own, generated answers. Search patterns are likely to change and become more conversational, and we are working on ways to support all search needs, however they may be expressed.
This technology is brand new, and will take some time to ensure answers are trustworthy and accurate. Search.gov is monitoring developments in the AI Search space closely. Although Bing has announced the limited access release of ChatGPT in their Bing.com search experience, there are no changes anticipated for our customers using Bing to source their web index.
Twitter API changes
Tweets in search results may go away
Twitter announced they will begin charging for use of their API, meaning that third-party software developers who access API data will likely lose access, including us. We do not yet know when these changes will be implemented, or if our access to their API will be affected. We’re monitoring the situation, and will communicate any changes that could affect search results.
Release Notes
Want to learn about the latest features, fixes, and focuses of the Search team? We post monthly Release Notes on our website.