Microsoft unveils Bing and Edge with OpenAI technology
Tech giant upgraded its search engine and browser in hopes of gaining ground on the Google juggernaut.
Microsoft Corp. unveiled new versions of its Bing internet search engine and Edge browser powered by the newest technology from ChatGPT maker OpenAI, aiming to gain ground on Google’s web search juggernaut by being first to offer a more conversational alternative for finding answers on the web and creating content.
“This technology is going to reshape pretty much every software category,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said at an event Tuesday at the company’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters. It’s “high time” innovation was restored to internet search, he said.
The new Bing, which runs on an OpenAI language model that is more advanced than the one behind ChatGPT, can be switched
in and out of chat mode, and users can tap the bot to compose emails. The new Edge browser adds the AI-based Bing for chat and writing text, and it can summarize web pages and respond conversationally to queries. The answers come with citations to their sources, so users can see where the information is coming from.
A flurry of product announcements from Microsoft and Google in recent weeks comes amid a sudden intense focus on generative AI, which can create new content from digital troves of text, photos and art. Last week Microsoft unveiled a customer-management program
that uses OpenAI textgeneration tools to compose emails for salespeople, and jazzed up the premium tier of its Teams chat and meeting software with AI-written post-meeting notes.
Microsoft recently announced a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, solidifying ties with the startup to get the inside track on its artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT and Dall-E, which have attracted millions of users in just months. Beyond search, Microsoft executives have said they want to add OpenAI’s technology into the Office productivity software, security programs and video game tools.
The new Bing search query box can accept up to 1,000 characters. In a demonstration, Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi asked the chat-based engine about events in Scottsdale, Ariz., during this weekend’s Super Bowl. The new Bing returned information about a Super Bowl week party, a culinary event and other related happenings. The souped-up service can also estimate whether an Ikea love seat will fit in a 2019 Honda Odyssey — Bing told Mehdi it wasn’t sure, and it depends on whether the second and third row of the vehicle are folded down.
Asked for an egg substitute in recipes, Bing offered several choices and the measurements of each that equals one egg. It also discussed the properties of each substitute, such as which will make the recipe fluffier.
Microsoft said the new version of Bing is available now as a preview, which means users can try a limited number of queries. People can also join a waiting list for full access, which the company hopes to expand to millions in the coming weeks, Mehdi said.
Alphabet’s Google, whose search engine has almost 90% of the market, uses AI but relies on an older language model. From a competitive standpoint, Google’s longtime dominance has meant the market has grown stodgy, with the 14-year-old Bing and other upstarts unable to make significant inroads. Although parts of the basic page design and features from the main players have been tweaked over the years, the format for search results — a list of links — remains.
ChatGPT and other generative AI search products aim to change that, replacing links that may or may not address a user’s query with a conversational, contextual answer. The risks to this burgeoning approach are that inaccuracies or misinformation can seep into responses, and — depending on how results are presented — users may not be able to tell the source or veracity of information that the service has given as a definitive answer.
In recent months, Google’s once-vaunted AI unit has lost momentum and lately has been overshadowed by OpenAI. .