Microsoft announces new Bing and Edge browser powered by upgraded ChatGPT AI

Microsoft has announced a new version of its search engine Bing, powered by an upgraded version of the same AI technology that underpins chatbot ChatGPT. The company is launching the product alongside an upgraded version of its Edge browser, promising that the two will provide a new experience for browsing the web and finding information online.

“It’s a new day in search,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at an event announcing the product. We’re currently following the event live, and adding more information to this story as we go.

Microsoft argued that the search paradigm hasn’t changed in 20 years and that roughly half of all searches don’t answer users’ questions. The arrival of conversational AI can change this, says the company, delivering information more fluidly and quickly.

Microsoft says the new Bing will be live today “for desktop limited preview” — users will be able to try a limited number of queries and sign up for full access in the future.

The “new Bing,” as Microsoft is calling it, offers a chat function where users can ask questions and receive answers in natural language. The feature uses an updated version of the AI language model built by OpenAI that underpins ChatGPT — known as the “Prometheus Model” — which offers more up-to-date information with annotated answers.

In live demos, Microsoft showed the new Bing displaying traditional search results side-by-side with annotations and an AI chat interface. The company showed a number of example searches: for recipes, for travel tips, shopping for furniture from Ikea and more. In one demo Bing was asked to “create an itinerary for each day of a 5-day trip to Mexico.” The question was answered by the chatbot, describing the itinerary alongside links to sources for the information.

The announcement of the new Bing comes amid a flurry of AI activity from Microsoft and rival Google. Since ChatGPT launched on the web last November, interest in AI text generation has exploded. Microsoft, which has closely partnered with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, is seeking to capitalize on this excitement and has already announced how this technology will be integrated across its suite of office software, tackling tasks like summarizing meetings and autocompleting lines of code.

Google, meanwhile, has been caught off guard by what some are claiming is a paradigm shift in how users find information on the web. The launch of ChatGPT reportedly triggered a “code red” within the search giant, with long-absent founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin drafted to help deal with what could be a threat to the firm’s biggest revenue driver.

In an attempt to preempt Microsoft’s announcement today, Google unveiled its own ChatGPT, named Bard, yesterday. CEO Sundar Pichai described the software as an “experimental conversational AI service” but noted that it was still being tested by a small group of users and will only receive a wider launch in the coming weeks.

The bigger question for both Microsoft and Google, though, is: are AI chatbots even a good replacement for search? How will this technology sit alongside existing methods of finding information online, and what happens when it makes mistakes?

The latter point is perhaps the most important, as AI language systems like ChatGPT have a well-documented propensity for presenting false information as fact. Although researchers have warned about this problem for years, there have been countless examples of AI-generated errors since ChatGPT launched on the web — from chatbots making up biographical details about real people to fabricating academic papers and offering dangerous medical advice.

This sort of AI stupidity is already a problem, though. The rise of chatbots has generated new attention for the issue, but Google has been increasingly using AI to summarize web pages for years. This has led to some high-profile errors, like Google responding to a search “had a seizure now what?” with the advice “hold the person down or try to stop their movements” — exactly the opposite of what should be done in this scenario.

As well as the problem of misinformation, AI-accelerated search could unbalance the ecosystem that sustains the wider search market. If AI collates information without directing users to its source and generating revenue for the creator, it will damage incentives for third parties to publish accurate information online.

These and other problems will face Microsoft, Google, and others navigating the new world of AI search, but in the meantime, the tech giants simply seem like they’re scrambling to launch products before their rivals get there first.

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