Microsoft tests adding new generative AI search to Bing

Taking a page from Google’s AI overview, Microsoft is rolling out AI-generated answers to its Bing search engine. Starting July 25, “a small subset of user queries” will produce customized answers to questions typed into the search bar.

“Bing continues to be trusted by hundreds of millions of users who use it to find information, get answers to their questions, and explore their curiosities,” Microsoft said in a statement. Bing Blog Post Thursday.

How do Bing generated searches work?

Bing AI-generated answers will appear at the top of search results for specific queries and will include sources that users can easily click to verify or learn more about the answer. Standard search results will appear in a column next to AI-generated answers. Microsoft said the goal is to display the answers users want faster.

Last year, Microsoft increased ChatGPT powered search and chat Enter Bing.

“We’ve refined our methods to optimize Bing’s accuracy and are applying these insights as we continue to improve the use of LLM in Search,” Microsoft wrote in a Bing blog post.

The Seattle giant hasn’t revealed which AI models make Bing search work, other than to say it uses both small and large language models.

Adding artificial intelligence makes Bing more like Google Search

I spoke to several people who switched from using Google to Bing to avoid AI-generated answers. Microsoft could learn a lesson Co-pilot and recalls, which raised privacy concerns, and Rememberbut this plan has been postponed. On the other hand, the inclusion of generative AI in software products in 2024 seems inevitable.

See: Meta recently revealed Camel 3.1its most advertisingState-of-the-art large-scale language models.

For businesses that rely in part on web clicks, Microsoft assured them that “early data suggests this experience can sustain clicks to your site and support a healthy web ecosystem.”

The idea is that users will still interact with traditional search results, while Bing AI search results will “increase the number of clickable links, like citations, in the results,” Microsoft wrote.

It’s too early to say whether this will come true. Microsoft may be trying to emulate Google, which still holds 81.95% of the desktop search market as of January 2024. According to StatistaBing occupies the middle position with a market share of 10.51%, ahead of Yahoo with a market share of 2.67%.