Microsoft yesterday launched an AI-powered Bing search engine and Edge browser, which it believes will deliver better search, more complete answers, a new chat experience and the ability to generate content.
“AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all – search,” says Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “Today, we’re launching Bing and Edge powered by AI copilot and chat, to help people get more from search and the web.”
Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice-president and consumer chief marketing officer, writes in his blog: “There are 10-billion search queries a day, but we estimate half of them go unanswered. That’s because people are using search to do things it wasn’t originally designed to do. It’s great for finding a website, but for more complex questions or tasks too often it falls short.
“We have brought together search, browsing and chat into one unified experience you can invoke from anywhere on the web.”
He says the new offerings deliver the following:
* Better search. The new Bing gives you an improved version of the familiar search experience, providing more relevant results for simple things like sports scores, stock prices and weather, along with a new sidebar that shows more comprehensive answers if users want them.
* Complete answers. Bing reviews results from across the web to find and summarise the answer users are looking for, Mehdi says. “For example, you can get detailed instructions for how to substitute eggs for another ingredient in a cake you are baking right in that moment, without scrolling through multiple results.”
* A new chat experience. “For more complex searches – such as for planning a detailed trip itinerary or researching what TV to buy – the new Bing offers new, interactive chat,” Mehdi explains. “The chat experience empowers you to refine your search until you get the complete answer you are looking for by asking for more details, clarity and ideas – with links available so you can immediately act on your decisions.”
* A creative spark. “There are times when you need more than an answer – you need inspiration. The new Bing can generate the content to help you. It can help you write an email, create a five-day itinerary for a dream vacation to Hawaii, with links to book your travel and accommodations, prep for a job interview or create a quiz for trivia night. The new Bing also cites all its sources, so you’re able to see links to the web content it references.”
* New Microsoft Edge experience. “We’ve updated the Edge browser with new AI capabilities and a new look, and we’ve added two new functionalities: Chat and compose,” says Mehdi. “With the Edge Sidebar, you can ask for a summary of a lengthy financial report to get the key takeaways – and then use the chat function to ask for a comparison to a competing company’s financials and automatically put it in a table. You can also ask Edge to help you compose content, such as a LinkedIn post, by giving it a few prompts to get you started. After that, you can ask it to help you update the tone, format and length of the post. Edge can understand the web page you’re on and adapts accordingly.”
Mehdi says the new Bing experience has been enabled for four specific technology innovations:
* Next-generation OpenAI model. “Bing is running on a new, next-generation OpenAI large language model that is more powerful than ChatGPT and customised specifically for search. It takes key learnings and advancements from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 – and it is even faster, more accurate and more capable.”
* Microsoft Prometheus model. “We have developed a proprietary way of working with the OpenAI model that allows us to best leverage its power. We call this collection of capabilities and techniques the Prometheus model. This combination gives you more relevant, timely and targeted results, with improved safety.”
* Applying AI to core search algorithm. “We’ve also applied the AI model to our core Bing search ranking engine, which led to the largest jump in relevance in two decades. With this AI model, even basic search queries are more accurate and more relevant.”
* New user experience. “We’re reimagining how you interact with search, browser and chat by pulling them into a unified experience. This will unlock a completely new way to interact with the web.”
Mehdi stresses that, together with OpenAI, Microsoft has been intentional in implementing safeguards to defend against harmful content. “Our teams are working to address issues such as misinformation and disinformation, content blocking, data safety and preventing the promotion of harmful or discriminatory content in line with our AI principles.”
The new Bing is available today in a limited preview on desktop.
Highlights from the Bing and Microsoft Edge launch