A first look at Microsoft’s new Bing, powered by upgraded ChatGPT AI

Welcome to this video where we will show you how Microsoft's new AI-powered Bing interface can make your online search experience faster, smarter, and more personalized. Well, I guess my work here is done; I’ll let Bing take over from now.

What you’ve just seen is Microsoft’s new AI-powered version of Bing. It’s here to take on Google's search dominance. Microsoft is now bringing a Next-Generation GPT model to its Bing search engine, confident that it will transform search as we know it today. But why is this different from ChatGPT, and what’s new?

First up, Microsoft is putting answers to queries side by side with the search results you’re used to seeing today. These are called chat answers, and they are the type of response you’d find in ChatGPT. You’ll get the usual links followed by a more conversational response on the side. This is neat and will ease people gently into this new AI-powered search.

But it’s the chat interface that’s really interesting. ChatGPT has wowed the web with its impressive ability to naturally respond to queries, write poems, organize people’s lives, and much more. Bing’s AI features are based on a more advanced version of what powers ChatGPT. That means it can do things like surface breaking news and relevant information as it’s happening. It can also organize a three-day vacation to New York City for you and your family when it’s warm.

The main chat interface is very similar to ChatGPT but searches news sources with surprising speed for events that are unfolding or that have just happened. This is all super speedy, but much like ChatGPT, it’s not always accurate. Earlier today, I asked it a bunch of queries, and it gave me the wrong date for a breaking news incident. But it’s not just news it can cover and search queries. Microsoft says its AI-powered Bing should be better at writing code than ChatGPT. I'm not a coder, so I'll leave that up to the prompt engineering experts to see if Microsoft’s promises hold there.

The big differences can be found in how Microsoft has integrated these chatbot powers into its Edge browser, and I think this is where the future of Microsoft’s OpenAI partnership gets really interesting. Edge now has a sidebar which can scan entire web pages and allow you to pick out information or run chat queries against websites. Now imagine you’re on Amazon searching for a TV; you could ask Bing to compare the best 4K TVs, find the best prices, and then formulate this all into a neat table that you can email to your partner.

There’s even a compose tab that makes all the work of typing in parameters easier by offering a GUI for tone, format, and length. You can ask Bing’s AI model to write about anything here, and it will neatly format it and get it ready for a blog post, an email, or just a simple list. Microsoft didn’t talk about this on stage today, but you can imagine a future where Word or Outlook could automatically generate documents or emails for you. You could technically do this right now; just open up a web-based version of Word, put it alongside this little sidebar in Edge, and start generating content on the fly.

All of these new features look great, and the possibilities are almost endless. But there will be thousands of people out there looking to break this new Bing AI, much like people jailbreak ChatGPT and make it say bad things. Microsoft says it has some additional safeguards in place to protect against this, but we’ll see how long it takes for prompt engineers to break past it.

It will also be interesting to see how publishers and content owners react to this. The chat answers are more advanced than the simple query answers we see in search engines today, and it’s clear that people will click on links less even if Bing is clearly sourcing information. This is going to open up a whole bunch of conversations around content, regulatory risks, legal issues, and much more. We’ve already seen Getty suing some image generation companies, and we’re just at the beginning of how this type of AI will reshape online content.

Overshadowing all of this is Google and exactly how the search giant will respond. Microsoft is clearly trying to take away search engine market share from Google and make Bing more relevant. Neil sat down with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for the Decoder podcast. We have the full interview up on the channel, but here’s what he had to say:

“First of all, look, I have the greatest admiration for Google and what they’ve done. They are an unbelievable company with great talent, and I have a lot of respect for Sundar and his teams. They have the 800-pound gorilla in this, which is what they are. I hope that with our innovation, they will definitely want to come out and show that they can dance, and I want people to know that we made them dance. I think that’ll be a great day.”

And Google is going to be dancing real soon. Just a day before Microsoft’s event, Google announced its ChatGPT competitor, Bard. It’s in limited testing right now, and we haven’t seen exactly how it handles queries or how Google will integrate it into search. But it’s clear the AI search battle is on. If you thought ChatGPT was interesting, things are about to shift up a gear. Like I said earlier, the full Satya Nadella interview is up on the channel, so go check that out.

But if we’re going to end this the way that Bing wanted us to, thanks for reading and happy searching.

Keywords

Microsoft
AI-powered Bing
GPT model
ChatGPT
Search Engine
Edge Browser
Satya Nadella
Google
Bard

FAQ

Q: What makes Microsoft’s new Bing different from ChatGPT? A: The new Bing uses a more advanced version of the model that powers ChatGPT, providing additional features like real-time news updates and the ability to organize events.

Q: How does the chat interface in Bing work? A: The chat interface places conversational responses alongside traditional search results, offering a blend of familiar link-based searches and more interactive answers.

Q: Can Bing’s AI help with tasks other than searching? A: Yes, it can organize trips, provide real-time news, compare products, and even compose emails with specific formatting and tone.

Q: How has Bing integrated AI into its Edge browser? A: The Edge browser now features a sidebar that can scan web pages, run chat queries, and collect information, making the browsing experience more interactive.

Q: What are the potential challenges for Microsoft's new Bing AI? A: Challenges include ensuring accuracy, maintaining safeguards against misuse, and navigating potential legal and regulatory risks, especially regarding content and intellectual property rights.

Q: How is Google responding to Microsoft’s new Bing? A: Google announced its own AI competitor called Bard, which is in limited testing, signaling a competitive race in the AI-powered search engine space.