- Microsoft has unveiled its new Bing generative search, a feature designed to rival Google’s AI-powered search experiences.
- Microsoft’s Bing generative search marks a major advancement in AI-powered search, positioning Microsoft as a strong contender against Google
OUR TAKE
Microsoft’s got a new trick up its sleeve with Bing generative search. It’s like Google’s AI Overview, but with a Microsoft twist. They’re aiming to spit out comprehensive summaries that’ll make your head spin. But, let’s be real, AI-generated info ain’t always spot on like Google’s AI Overviews sometimes gave wacky advice. Microsoft’s got big plans, but they gotta tread carefully. After all, we don’t want spaghetti westerns mixed up with romantic comedies in our search results! Let’s see if Bing can avoid the AI pitfalls and deliver the goods.
–Miurio huang, BTW reporter
What happened
Microsoft has unveiled its new Bing generative search, a feature designed to rival Google’s AI-powered search experiences. Currently available to a limited number of users, Bing generative search utilises a combination of large and small generative AI models to aggregate information from across the web and produce comprehensive summaries in response to search queries.
For instance, when a user searches for “What is a spaghetti western?”, Bing generative search will provide a detailed summary of the film subgenre’s history and origins, along with top examples, and will include links and sources for the gathered information. Similar to Google’s AI Overviews feature, Bing allows users to switch between AI-generated summaries and traditional search results on the same page.
Microsoft expressed excitement about this new development, stating in an official blog post, “This is another important step in evolving the search experience on Bing and we’re eager to get feedback throughout this journey. We are slowly rolling this out and will take our time, garner feedback, test and learn, and work to create a great experience before making this more broadly available … We look forward to sharing more updates in the coming months.”
The company emphasises that Bing generative search, which builds on the AI-generated chat answers launched on Bing in February 2023, aims to “fulfill the intent of the user’s query more effectively.” However, AI-generated search results have a history of errors, such as Google’s AI Overviews suggesting inappropriate actions or providing incorrect information.
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Why it’s important
The introduction of Bing generative search is a significant step in the evolution of AI-powered search technologies, marking Microsoft’s serious entry into the competitive landscape dominated by Google. This new feature represents Microsoft’s commitment to enhancing user experience by leveraging advanced AI to deliver more accurate and informative search results.
However, the rollout of AI-generated search results has been met with mixed reactions due to the potential for inaccuracies and the impact on web traffic to original content creators. There have been instances where AI-generated content has led to erroneous suggestions and misattributions, which raises concerns about the reliability and ethical implications of such technology.
One critical issue is the potential for AI-generated summaries to reduce traffic to the original websites from which information is sourced. Studies have indicated that AI overviews can negatively affect around 25% of publisher traffic, as users may rely on summaries rather than clicking through to the original articles. Microsoft claims it is monitoring the impact on traffic and aims to maintain the number of clicks to websites, though it has yet to provide concrete data to support these assertions.
The broader adoption of AI in search technologies underscores the need for careful balancing between enhancing user experience and ensuring the integrity and traffic of original content publishers. As Bing generative search continues to develop, its success will likely hinge on its ability to provide accurate, ethical, and traffic-sustaining summaries.
