Microsoft announced a new version of its search engine Bing powered by the brains behind ChatGPT. The same artificial intelligence (AI) technology is used to bring new features to the Edge browser.
At the launch event for the new version of Bing, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said web browsing had not changed in decades, but the presence of AI would be able to provide information more smoothly and quickly than traditional methods.
"This technology will change almost all categories of software," said Nadella, as quoted by The Guardian, Wednesday (8/2/2023).
In the demonstration that was showcased at the event, Microsoft showcased the new version of Bing in several configurations. One of them displays traditional search results with a summary from AI next to them, while the other mode allows users to talk directly to the Bing chatbot and ask questions like the ChatGPT interface.
Microsoft showed several search examples, including asking Bing for recipes, vacation tips, and shopping for furniture on Ikea. In one after another, Bing was asked to make travel plans for a five-day vacation in Mexico City, and that question was fully answered by a chatbot complete with rough details as well as links to resources.
Unlike ChatGPT, whose knowledge is limited until 2021, the new version of Bing can display news and information about the latest events. Microsoft says the feature is powered by the latest version of GPT 3.5, OpenAI's large language model (LMM) that powers ChatGPT.
Microsoft calls this model the 'Prometheus', and says it's more powerful than GPT 3.5 and can answer questions with up-to-date information.
The new version of Bing can be tested on a limited basis via the desktop, but users can only ask for one of the available presets. Microsoft has also opened a waiting list for users who can't wait to try the full version. You can try the new version of Bing and register for the waitlist via this link https://www.bing.com/new.
Apart from that, Microsoft has also embedded the ChatGPT brain into the Edge browser. The company made by Bill Gates launched two AI-powered features for Edge namely 'chat' and 'compose' which will be placed in the Edge sidebar.
The 'Chat' feature allows users to summarize the pages or documents read and ask questions regarding the content. Meanwhile, 'compose' is a writing assistant that can create various texts ranging from emails to social media content based on several inputs.
