Is Microsoft Bing’s ChatGPT the ‘AI copilot’ you need?
‘I want to be alive’.
This statement was generated in conversation with a New York Times journalist by Microsoft Bing’s new chatbot.
In an attempt to regain traction as a search engine, Microsoft Bing recently announced the release of the chat-based feature. Powered by ChatGPT, Microsoft introduced BingAI as a revolutionary way to interface with search engines. The tech giant has dubbed the chatbot your ‘AI copilot for the web’.
Microsoft’s announcement was met with great buzz, with over one million people registering for the waitlist in just 48 hours. But in the weeks following, journalists and experts have largely focused on the chatbot’s sentience – its responses have been controversial, to say the least.
The Bing chatbot’s apparent desire to live highlights the complexity of generative AI bots. While discussion on the ethics of such statements are crucial, the intricacy of the chatbot’s exchanges serve to highlight just how advanced Microsoft’s chatbot can be.
So, what is it like to use Bing’s ChatGPT, and how is the chatbot revolutionizing search?
Keep reading to find out.
What is Bing’s ChatGPT AI?
Microsoft's new AI search feature, which calls itself Sydney, offers the functionalities of a search engine in a conversational chat box experience. In essence, the power of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model has been unleashed onto the knowledge of the World Wide Web.
By combining search with ChatGPT, Microsoft has guaranteed an increase in the accuracy, diversity, speed, and relevance of Bing’s search experience.
Using Bing’s ChatGPT AI, ‘Sydney’
Through the chat interface, users can ask questions to the AI as if talking to another human. Exchanges feel more natural as you can input follow up questions, ask for clarification on responses, and uncover more complex answers to highly contextualized queries.
Another major aspect setting Bing’s chat feature apart is its ability to understand informal speech, jargon, and slang. The casual rapport combined with a bottomless well of knowledge makes Sydney a formidable AI in comparison to existing chatbots.
Currently, the app is still only available through a waitlist, which you can join on Bing. Microsoft also offers you a way to get ahead in line through actions like setting Bing as your default search engine, making Edge your default browser, and installing the Microsoft Bing App on your mobile phone.
What kind of questions can you ask the Bing AI chatbot?
In terms of what you can ask BingAI’s chatbot, Microsoft entices us with the following list of benefits, which allow for a wider array of questions and follow-up questions.
- Improved search for familiar queries: What's the weather like? What should I wear?
- Complete, detailed answers: How can I substitute eggs in my muffin recipe?
- A new chat experience: What are the top gaming computers right now? Which one is the cheapest? Is it worth it to pay a bit more?
- A creative spark: Can you plan a beach-heavy itinerary for my visit to Hawaii in June? What if it rains?
Chat versus text-based search
When it comes to traditional text-based search, Bing comes in at a not-so-close second to Google. But when comparing Microsoft’s new chat-based search to our longstanding methods, Bing’s ChatGPT AI offers advantages that are hard to ignore.
Chat saves time
If you didn’t find what you were looking for on page one of Google, chances are you have to redo your search with different keywords that just might work. And when you finally find the right results, they were likely on the fifth website you clicked on.
With a chat interface, you no longer have to look through multiple websites that only half-answer your queries. A chatbot will generate one detailed response that directly answers your question.
Chat is highly personalized
For many queries, context is key. How many times have you searched for headache symptoms and became convinced you had a life-threatening injury?
With highly tailored exchanges, you can enjoy responses that are highly relevant to your specific situation. And, if these responses aren’t specific enough, you can ask follow-up questions that keep the history of your conversation in mind.
Chat adds a ‘human’ touch
The conversational touch of a chat-based search function humanizes the search experience and can even make it fun. In our digital age, we’re the most connected we’ve been, yet interacting through screens can feel strangely lonely. A chat-based AI touches on the importance of social connection, and can make you feel like you’re talking to a friend.
Is Microsoft’s new AI chatbot here to stay?
For months, we’ve pondered whether Microsoft and ChatGPT will reinvent search. But there is still room to grow before we can fully call it a game changer.
Like most generative AI chatbots, one key consideration is making the search function safe and trustworthy for users. Among the many factual errors it has generated, Bing’s chatbot was also found teaching a fifth-grader ethnic slurs. Until Microsoft and its counterparts fully safeguard the risks of an evolving AI chatbot, the accessibility of traditional text-search will remain the norm.
As a search engine, the new chatbot’s power ultimately lies in two strengths: making large amounts of information digestible, and re-establishing Bing’s competitive position against its biggest rival, Google.
The Reinvention of Search Continues
Over the last year, industry experts and leading tech firms have dubbed generative AI a revolutionary tool. It poses many questions as to how our digital landscape, and those who inhabit it, will evolve. When it comes to Bing’s ChatGPT AI, the chatbot certainly brings about as many questions as it does answers.
All in all, Bing’s ChatGPT is the most state-of-the-art conversational AI yet – if we can safeguard its uses. It carries a notable edge (no pun intended) against Google Search. But is it the copilot you need?
The potential is absolutely there.
Microsoft Bing’s ChatGPT AI touches on the beauty of human language, and being able to communicate with tech in close form to the way we think. But the need for an AI copilot extends beyond search – and Skippet is just the tool.
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