Bing’s AI Search Upgrade – Everything You Need To Know

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become something of a buzzword recently. The power of AI has long been depicted as some futuristic marvel in the world of popular culture and science fiction. Now, it seems we really are living in the future as machine learningMachine Learning is the branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. powers many smart devices in our homes and has even led to the rise of AI content writing tools like Microsoft-backed ChatGPT technology. These tools aim to make writing quality content for whatever purpose faster.

However, February 2023 saw AI come to the forefront once again, but this time in relation to the wonderful world of search!

Google announced its AI chatbot, Bard, only to be outshone by a pretty major Bing announcement the next day. Google’s rival announced that an AI-powered Microsoft Bing search and Edge browser was here. Powered by OpenAI’s Chat GPT technology, it looks to provide a better search expLerience, complete answers, a chat experience, and the opportunity to generate content for users.

So, what do we know about how Bing is challenging Google search? Read on to find out everything we know so far.

What Is ChatGPT?

An AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT is a natural language processingNatural language processing is the ability of a computer to understand human speech in the form of sentences. tool developed by OpenAI. It produces well-thought-out and engaging human-like responses and is used in different applications, from chatbots to content generation.

Founded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk, OpenAI is a research body that wants to use artificial intelligence to help humans. They launched ChatGPT in November 2022 to simulate human conversation.

The technology can:

• Write code
• Debug code
• Write human-like content
• Answer follow-up questions
• Explain complex topics
• Create project outlines
• Prompt helpful graphics

Impressive, right? The potential gets even better now that ChatGPT has been integrated into Bing search to create the brand-new clever AI-powered Microsoft Bing, which looks to reinvent search.

Bill Gates And ChatGPT

Since the announcement of Bing’s new AI-powered search, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has given an interview about the power of ChatGPT. He said that the technology’s ability to understand and produce human-like responses to queries “will change our world.”

Perhaps Mr. Gates’ view isn’t surprising, seeing as ChatGPT is openly backed by Microsoft and has been rated as the fastest-growing consumer app in history since its launch in November last year. The tech giant has been putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to investment in artificial intelligence. In fact, it’s been one of the technology’s earliest supporters and investors before the latest Bing update.

In 2019, Microsoft invested $1 billion into OpenAI and made another investment into the research body in 2021. Then, in January 2023, it was announced that Microsoft was investing an eye-watering $10 billion into OpenAI. This investment will allow OpenAI to use the power of Microsoft’s cloud computing software Azure to develop further.

This investment is set to give the company the edge when it comes to AI over its competitors, which include Amazon, Meta, and of course, search engine king, Google. The investment could see Bing challenging Google search for the first time.

What Has Microsoft Announced About Bing’s AI Search Upgrade?

On February 7, Microsoft announced its new and improved version of Bing search that has been integrated with the latest update in artificial intelligence, ChatGPT. Bing’s upgrade has been touted to position the search engine as more like an ‘answer engine.’

As an ‘answer engine,’ Bing will now be able to respond and give users detailed answers to their search queries instead of just a list of relevant linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. to websites for them to click on. Microsoft is describing its new Bing search version as an ‘AI co-pilot for the web’ to make search easier for users.

Search results pages will throw up complete answers for users, give them the opportunity via the sidebar chat function to ask follow-up questions for dialed-in results, offer summarized answers of results, and even help generate content for the user to utilize.

The new version has been released because Microsoft doesn’t think that current search engines are fit for purpose. It estimates that there are over 10 billion search queries every day, with about half of them being unanswered. This is down to users having longer and more complex queries than they used to. This is where the new AI-powered Microsoft Bing comes in, combining browsing, chat, and search all in one place.

4 huge breakthroughs in technology have made Bing’s AI search upgrade possible:

1. Next-generation OpenAI Model – Bing’s search upgrade will run on a new OpenAI language model that is even more sophisticated than ChatGPT and intended for specific use in search to provide more accurate and reliable results.
2. Microsoft Prometheus Model – Provides a way of working with the OpenAI model to take full advantage of its potential to provide relevant results safely.
3. New User Experience – Combining browsing, search, and chat together to provide a new way of doing an internet search.
4. AI And Core Search Algorithm – Microsoft has applied AI to Bing’s search algorithm, which has made search results more relevant to the user.

What Can We Expect From The New Search?

It seems that Bing is reinventing search through the power of AI. But what can people expect from this new version of the search engine?

A Better Search Experience

Microsoft has harnessed the power of AI technology to provide a better search experience for its users. The traditional search experience has been given a revamp so that it can provide users with more relevant results. The new sidebar feature gives users the opportunity to ask Bing follow-up questions to get a more targeted or in-depth answer and even to provide an easy summary for users to digest. The upgraded version of Bing has the user’s needs at its center.

Users Receive Complete Answers

The update will put an end to aimless scrolling through search results to find the webpage that answers your query. Instead, the new Bing will review results from all over the internet and summarize them for you in a straightforward answer at the time that you need it. For example, if you are cooking a recipe and missing an ingredient, a quick Bing search can give you a detailed answer on what to substitute it for without trawling through the list of results for what you need to know.

A Chat Experience

If your search query is highly detailed, upgraded Bing has an interactive chat function that allows you to refine your search as often as you like until you get the full – or complete – answer you are looking for. This feature puts the user in full control as you can get further clarity, detail, and ideas by asking the Bing chatbot for further information. Microsoft is saying this function could be particularly useful for searchers carrying out research before purchasing a new product, such as a car or television. The chat feature allows Bing’s chatbot to get to ‘know’ you based on the information you provide to deliver relevant results and information that you will value.

Creative Content

There are few things more frustrating than experiencing a creative block when you are trying to put your ideas into written words that make sense. If you need to generate content for any purpose, whether writing an email or planning a detailed itinerary for your next vacation with links to help you book it, then the new upgraded version of Bing can help you with that. Read our previous blog post about AI generated content to learn more about this aspect.

Microsoft says it is reinventing search with its new update, making search more user-friendly. It is also making search a lot more fun with the chat feature.

The Race With Google

Google dominates the global search market with a 91% share, with Bing enjoying just a 3% market share. As Bing has a smaller slice of the pie, it doesn’t have much to lose in the AI race, which means it can afford to invest the $10 billion it is doing over the next few years into new experiments with AI technology.

For Google, search is its largest revenue source, so it has a lot more to lose when it comes to AI-powered search, as losing any proportion of its market share could have a big negative impact on the company.

Google released its chatbot, Bard, in direct response to the success of ChatGPT the day before Microsoft made its big Bing announcement. Bard runs on LaMDA technology and will use information that already exists on the internet to give users the high-quality answers that they are seeking. However, its launch demo did not go to plan, as the technology gave incorrect answers to a search query. This saw a $100 billion drop in its market capital.

The rise of OpenAI and ChatGPT has certainly pushed Microsoft and Google to research artificial intelligence and roll out their own projects in the field. While nobody knows what the future will hold for the 2 companies in terms of AI, one thing for sure is that the race between them is far from over. Watch this space…