Today, Microsoft announced a new version of its search engine Bing, powered by an upgraded version of the same AI technology that underpins chatbot ChatGPT.
The technology behind Bing Edge uses GPT-3 to generate human-like responses, making the search experience faster and more intuitive.
According to Microsoft, the integration is a major step towards creating a more conversational and personal search experience for users and has been met with excitement from the tech community, with many praising Microsoft for its innovative use of AI.
Microsoft brought together search, browsing and chat into one unified experience, delivering better search scenarios, more comprehensive answers, a new chat experience and the ability to generate content. These new tools can serve as your AI copilot for the web.
- Better search. The new Bing gives you an improved search experience, providing more relevant results for simple things like sports scores, stock prices and weather, along with a new sidebar that shows more comprehensive answers if you want them.
- Complete answers. Bing reviews results from across the web to find and summarize the answer you’re looking for. For example, you can get detailed instructions for how to substitute eggs for another ingredient in the cake you are cooking right in that moment, without scrolling through multiple results or recipes.
- New chat experience. For more complex searches – such as planning a detailed trip itinerary or researching what TV to buy – the new Bing offers an interactive chat experience, empowering you to refine your search until you get your desired answer, and with links available so you can immediately act on your decisions.
- A creative spark to generate content. The new Bing can generate content for you, including helping you write an email, or creating a 5-day vacation itinerary.
- New Edge experience. We’ve also updated the Edge browser with new AI capabilities and a new look, and we’re added two new functionalities: chat and compose.
At an event announcing the products Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that the paradigm for web search hasn’t changed in decades, but that AI can deliver information more fluidly and quickly than traditional methods.
Microsoft says that the new capabilities of Bing Edge are driven by the Prometheus Model, an updated version of OpenAI’s AI language model, GPT 3.5.
The Prometheus Model, which powers ChatGPT, is even more advanced than GPT 3.5 and is equipped to provide users with the latest information and annotated answers to their search queries with greater accuracy.
Widespread interest in AI text generation, sparked by the launch of ChatGPT on the web in November, has not gone unnoticed by Microsoft. The company, which has a strong partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is looking to take advantage of this newfound excitement and has already revealed plans to incorporate the technology across its office software.
The unveiling of the updated Bing search engine comes during a flurry of AI developments from Microsoft and its competitor, Google.
The new Bing is available from today in a limited preview, and everyone can visit Bing.com today to try sample queries and sign up for the waitlist. The preview will be scaled to millions in the coming weeks.
