Which tool to choose
Look in the assistant for the web search or browsing feature: in some it's built in and activates when needed, in others there's a button or a mode to select. Where it exists, it's what takes you out of the AI's frozen knowledge and into current events. If the assistant doesn't search online, you have two paths: search yourself and paste it the page, or use it only for what doesn't depend on current events. The right tool depends on your question: for recent facts, you need something that looks at the web now.
How to do it
- Check whether your assistant can search online and, if it needs to be activated, turn it on or ask it explicitly.
- Ask the question specifying that you want up-to-date information: "look up the most recent news on...".
- Read the answer and open the links to the sources it cites, especially for data, prices, events.
- On important matters, compare more than one source instead of trusting the first.
A concrete example
Giorgio wanted to know whether certain rules for a benefit had changed, something that gets updated often. Without web search, the assistant had given him an answer that sounded confident but was old. He then activated online search and asked "look up the rules currently in force and indicate the sources". This time the AI found recent pages and linked them to him; he opened the official one and verified. The difference wasn't in the AI's intelligence, but in the fact that one time it was looking into the past and the other it was looking at the present.
When it DOESN'T work (and how to fix it)
If the AI answers about a recent fact without searching
It may give you a confident but dated, or invented, answer. Ask it explicitly to search online, and if it can't, search yourself and paste it the page. Never take a current-events fact for granted from an AI that hasn't looked at the web: there it's more likely to be wrong.
If the sources it cites are weak
Web search finds pages, but not all are worth it: blogs, forums, unreliable sites. Look at where the information comes from and favor official or authoritative sources. If the cited sources are poor, ask it to look for better ones or search yourself.
If you need something behind access or very specific
Web search doesn't reach everywhere: paywalled content, restricted areas, private documents stay out of reach. In those cases retrieve the text yourself and paste it into the chat, so the AI works on what the open web doesn't show it.
A tip from someone who really uses it
Always distinguish two types of question: those that depend on current events and those that don't. For explanations, reasoning, writing, the AI is fine without the internet, because it doesn't need to know "what happened today". But for prices, laws, events, news, anything that changes over time, an answer given without searching is an answer to take with a grain of salt. Get used to asking yourself "has this thing changed recently?": if so, demand online search and check the sources. It's the difference between true information and information that seemed true last year.
Frequently asked questions
Can all assistants search the internet?
No, and not always by default. Some do it automatically, others on request, others not at all. Check what yours offers: it changes a lot what you can ask it about current events.
If it searches online, can I trust the answer?
More than without, but not blindly. The search finds pages of varying quality: the AI might base itself on a weak source. That's why it counts to open and evaluate the links, especially on important matters.
Why does it sometimes invent recent facts?
Because without access to the web it answers with its knowledge frozen in time, and when that isn't enough it tends to fill the gaps with something plausible. It's the reason why, on current events, online search and source-checking aren't a luxury.
Does the AI already know what happened in the world today?
No, and it's the misunderstanding that leads to trusting wrong answers. An assistant's base knowledge stops at a certain point in time: of what happened afterward it knows nothing, unless it searches the web at that moment. If you ask it for today's news and it isn't searching online, at best it tells you so, at worst it invents something that sounds believable. Taking for granted that the AI is always up to date is the most common way to take as true a fact that doesn't exist or is outdated: for current events you need active web search and an eye on the sources.