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It’s common knowledge that Google is the most popular search engine available, followed by YouTube. Microsoft’s Bing, on the other hand, has always trailed far behind, but with the introduction of their Bing AI search, could this be about to change? In this article, we discuss what Bing AI search is, how it works, and its benefits. Keep reading to learn more.
What Is Bing AI Search?
As the name suggests, Bing AI search is Microsoft’s attempt at combining the impressive power of artificial intelligence with the capabilities of their search engine. Bing AI search works similarly to ChatGPT, in that it is a conversational chatbot that understands the context surrounding user inputs. However, unlike ChatGPT, Bing AI is embedded within the Bing search engine and the Microsoft Edge web browser.
Capabilities of Bing AI
The Bing AI search engine has many capabilities, many of which are available in other chatbots like ChatGPT. What sets Bing apart from other chatbots is that it has direct access to a vast library of websites indexed by their search engine, enabling a wide variety of uses.
Text and Image Generation
Bing AI search can generate original text summaries on various topics or rewrite content in different styles based on user prompts. It can also create new images based on text description, changing the way users search for images, as they can now simply create the images they need on demand.
Explain Complex Concepts
Using the Bing AI in-browser chatbot, users can research complex topics and have it explain them in simple terms. This ensures a much more convenient research process and also makes challenging ideas accessible to users of all levels.
Conversational Web Search
Instead of searching for simple strings of text in a search engine, Bing AI allows users to search via conversation. This means web searchers can expand on their queries and further refine search results to find exactly what they need. What’s more, if Bing AI is continuously returning incorrect results, users can tell the chatbot and ask it to try again.
How Does Bing AI Work?
It’s no secret that Microsoft and OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, have a close relationship. In fact, Microsoft invests millions of dollars into the further development of ChatGPT, and even leverages GPT technology to power Bing AI.
As a large language generative AI model, GPT uses vast amounts of training data to mimic human language by focusing on understanding the context of user inputs. The reality, however, is much simpler than any real human-like intelligence.
The GPT AI model is built to predict the most relevant response to user queries. This means that it analyzes user inputs, drawing on its extensive training data to find similar situations and queries, and then generates a response based on its existing knowledge and the subject of a user’s query.
Benefits of Bing AI
An artificial intelligence-powered search engine comes with several advantages compared to regular search engines.
Quick Answers
Perhaps the greatest advantage of Bing AI is its ability to provide users with quick answers. Sure, both the regular Google and Bing search engines offer embedded “snippets” of information that make answering queries swift, but Bing AI is able to answer exact questions within seconds, with a better understanding of search context.
This helps accelerate the process of finding information online and improves the search engine experience. For instance, instead of having to look through multiple pages to find the answers you need, you can simply ask Bing AI a question and it will return an answer based on information available online. This, of course, also comes with drawbacks, as we’ll discuss in the next section.
Summarize Information
Bing AI can be used to quickly summarize information and answers after they’re retrieved from the web. This is excellent when trying to understand difficult concepts or when summarizing information for an email or business report.
Includes Citations
Currently, most AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude.ai do not provide sources for the information and data included in their responses. Bing AI, however, does cite its sources. This means that the information provided by Bing AI is verifiable, which reduces the chances of users believing inaccurate information.
Drawbacks of Bing AI
Despite its usefulness, Bing AI is not without its flaws. Here are a few drawbacks of Bing AI that should be considered before using it as your dedicated search engine.
Unclear SEO Requirements
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a staple of digital marketing, as it focuses on positioning websites to appear highly in search results and generate more traffic. In terms of businesses having their website used as a citation on Bing AI search, the parameters for usage are currently unknown. As a result, if Bing AI, and similar systems, take over web search, the digital marketing field is going to undergo a substantial shift.
It’s likely the new “ranking” parameters will be that a website has high-quality, accurate, and useful content, or it may simply be that Bing AI pulls information from highly ranked and relevant websites, retaining the importance of SEO. Either way, handling SEO in a world of AI search remains unclear.
Accuracy Issues
AI chatbots have been known to “hallucinate.” This means that they present false information as truth because they’ve been unable to find data relating to a query or have become confused about an input. Essentially, the AI chatbot tries to tell you what it thinks you want to hear.
Although Bing AI provides source citations, it’s still possible for it to offer users inaccurate information as a result of the training data provided to the chatbot, which we’ll discuss in the next point.
Data Bias and Copyright Issues
Because large language AI models are trained on publicly available data, it’s not uncommon for them to express biased viewpoints. For example, if data is scraped from 100 articles and 75 of them favor left-wing viewpoints, while only 25 express other views, it’s likely that the AI will replicate this viewpoint in its responses due to trends within the data. As a result, some responses may be biased and contain inaccuracies based on the way information is presented in the source material.
Is It Worth Using Bing AI?
Despite its drawbacks, Bing AI is an excellent addition to the search engine landscape and offers Microsoft an opportunity to become the next search engine leader–at least in terms of AI. For those of you who already use ChatGPT for research, it’s worth giving Bing AI a go, as it provides all the same features, in addition to search-specific functionality.
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