Bing has experienced increased popularity and relevance in recent years. Could the implementation of the technology used to develop ChatGPT lead to Bing securing a larger market share? This is what many are speculating on, but it certainly won't be easy to achieve.
Let's not forget that Google is planning to introduce its own conversational AI service called Bard very soon. The company will also launch new AI features in its search services.
Although it remains to be seen whether Bing will take some of the market share from Google and which chatbot will be better, one thing is for certain - AI tools will play a large role in search engines going forward.
I don't think anybody expected ChatGPT to take off the way it did. It didn't take long before people were saying that it was easier to find information by using ChatGPT as opposed to searching on Google. But there is a huge flaw in using the chatbot OpenAI developed. You don't see any sources for the information presented to you.
The new Bing search engine might change that in the near future.
ChatGPT + Bing Search Data
The new Bing search engine along with its AI chatbot called Sydney came about after a collaborative effort between Microsoft and OpenAI.
According to an interview Wall Street Journal conducted with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the two companies started collaborating on a research agenda to examine the potential of ChatGPT and its conversational capabilities.
The chatbot OpenAI developed is able to provide excellent answers due to the large volume of data it was exposed to. Following the exponential success of ChatGPT, Microsoft announced that it was going to integrate the technology to its Bing search engine.
What Microsoft has to offer here is its search data, which might make their chatbot Sydney even better than ChatGPT when it comes to finding current information. When using the new Bing, you immediately get a list of sources supporting the information found in the response to your prompt.
This will save you a lot of time as opposed to searching the information ChatGPT gives you online to check whether it's backed by credible sources. On the new Bing, you'll be able to see the source with a single click.
When Will the New Bing Be Released?
The new Bing has yet to be released to the public, but you can join the waitlist now and get early access. It’s not yet known when the improved version of the Bing search engine will be made available to the general public. They are taking their time and will gradually let new users test it to ensure they have a good product for millions of people to use.
For now, you can sign up for early access and wait for an email notifying you that you can use the new Bing. All you need to do to join the waitlist is log in with your Microsoft account and press on the big blue button.
You can access the new Bing even faster if you install the Bing smartphone app and set Microsoft defaults on your PC. It's up to you to decide whether this is something you're willing to do to have access to the new and improved search engine experience provided by Microsoft.
You can also try out a small demo version of the AI chatbot on Bing right now. You will have the option to choose between several prompts and see what type of answer Sydney generates.
The samples you get on Bing show you the different capabilities Sydney has. Apart from generating information backed by reputable sources, it can also help you write code. This shouldn't be a surprise considering that it's based on the same technology as ChatGPT.
It's still nice to see that the Microsoft team is prepared to make big changes if it means they'll have a better shot at getting a bigger search engine market share. But will they prove to have a superior product compared to OpenAI? That remains to be seen.
Sure, Sydney can do a lot of things. It can generate a pop quiz for you, as pictured below.
But can Sydney be as reliable as ChatGPT or is what the OpenAI team created truly something special nobody will be able to replicate in the near future? It's hard to tell at this point, but there are some reports that Microsoft's AI chatbot is not working as well as they hoped for.
An article published by The New York Times suggests that Sydney is not yet ready for human contact. Despite being exposed to a huge amount of search data, it seems that Sydney gets facts wrong a lot.
If this is true, it makes sense why the new Bing still hasn't been made available to the general public. It might take a while for it to be good enough for millions of people to use it on a daily basis. Until then, we still have ChatGPT which has proven to be reliable.
There Is Going to Be an AI Chatbot in Microsoft Office
There is still a lot of work that needs to be done on Sydney. But we might see it in places other than Bing soon as well. It's not a secret anymore that the company is planning to introduce an AI chatbot to different applications in Microsoft Office.
An article published by The Verge reveals that Microsoft has plans to include an AI chatbot in Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint. This is something I never knew I needed but I'm very happy that it's coming. I almost wish I'd go back to college to do every PowerPoint presentation I had to do in less than two minutes.
It's not too far-fetched to imagine that AI chatbots similar to ChatGPT will be featured in many applications sooner than we think. But we'll see in which instances it will have a great impact. I don't want something like ChatGPT to end up in every single app in the future and for companies to make it a selling point for every dull release they make. Include a chatbot only if it really makes sense to do so. Thanks.
Final Thoughts
Microsoft has been trying to increase its search engine market share with Bing for a long time. It didn't seem like anything was working in their favor on this front until ChatGPT became popular. What they did great is capture the moment and use the momentum OpenAI generated to announce an exciting transition and allow us to imagine a new type of search engine.
The narrative fueled by the combination of the technology OpenAI developed along with the Bing search data has started to gain traction. Keep in mind that Bing is still at a single-digit search engine market share. Will its recent developments help take it to a two-digit share of the market?
It's impossible to predict what will happen in the future. Only one thing is for certain - AI chatbots will become a standard feature in search engines in the near future.
