Microsoft’s New Bing AI Chatbot

AI powered copilot for the web

Race to dominate AI search queries has begun with major search engines trying to set the pace with Microsoft launching New Bing AI chat and Google (still an experiment) with Bard.

Bing uses GPT behind the scenes, but it also uses its search engines and Microsoft Graph at the backend to tailor responses. So the major advantage over chatGPT or GPT-4 is it can give latest information over the current events, technologies, activities, news, etc.

Have you tried the new Bing AI chat ? It was released on 22nd Feb 2023!!!

If not go ahead and check Microsoft’s New Bing, its AI powered copilot for the web. You will need to download Microsoft Edge browser. You don’t need to join any waitlist, however you will need to sign in to your Microsoft account for full access to the Bing AI services.

In this article we will some of the below topics, which might help you to get introduced with this service:

1. User Interface
2. Some test responses
3. Advantages over other chatbots
4. Limitations of Bing AI chat
5. Conclusion

User Interface :

Once you download Edge browser and sign in to your Microsoft account , you will see below screen as you go to http://www.bing.com/chat

The User interface for Bing AI chat is simple with a query input (or prompt) at the bottom and 3 choices for type of responses you would expect from the results:

1. More Creative
2. More Balanced
3. More Precise

For generic queries, keep “More Balanced” selected and give a prompt, for more finer information with facts use “More Precise” option and for creative results such as poems, art, etc use “More Creative” option.

Test Results

I did some test on the Bing AI chat and Open AI chat to see the differences.

Example 1 : I asked question about GPT-4 which is not answerable on chatGPT 3.5 and Microsoft Bing AI chat and below are the responses:

As you can see, Microsoft Bing AI can give results about latest GPT-4 but chatGPT cannot due to its knowledge cutoff on Sep 2021.

Example 2 : I asked question about newly launched experiment from Google about Bard and below are the responses:

As you can see, Microsoft Bing AI can give latest information about Bard as AI chatbot service however chatGPT recognises Bard as “Bayesian Optimisation with Automated Regularisation Design” a tool used in ML model.

Advantages over other chatbots:

As shown in above examples, there are other advantages of new Bing AI chat :

1. Bing AI chat can work with latest information
2. Bing AI chat can provide information with references and links
3. Bing AI chat provides faster responses as claimed by some users
4. Bing AI chat has been integrated with openAI’s latest GPT-4 model and this does not require any subscription or waitlist as openAI
5. Bing AI is integrated with Edge Mobile and can be used on mobile devices on Edge browser
6. Bing AI chat on mobile edge browser also support voice interactions
7. Bing AI chat has been integrated with Skype and gives insights directly in the chat by getting answers from web, generating content, documents, vacation plans etc.

This list can go on and there are many services Microsoft has already planned to utilise AI services in there roadmap.

Limitations of New Bing AI chat:

Microsoft has been fast enough to integrate openAI services in to its new Bing AI chat, however it still comes with some limitations :

1. Bing AI Chat can only be accessed via Edge browser
2. Bing AI Chat is limited to 15 conversations per session
3. Bing AI Chat is limited to 150 conversations per day
4. Bing AI Chat prompt is limited to 2000 characters
5. Bing AI Chat works with Dall-E to create your requested image but you only get 25 boost credits for the start. Once you finish those credits you can use Microsoft rewards to get the boosts.
6. Bing AI Chat works with few languages such as Spanish, English, Chinese, Japanese, French and German
7. Bing AI chat can give wrong or incorrect answers as other AI chatbots

This list can also go on, however over time we will see this improving.

Conclusion:

Microsoft’s new Bing AI chat will be advantageous as it can utilise the power of openAI GPT models, its own Microsoft Graph and Bing Search engines to consolidate and respond user queries at much faster rate. Reliability will improve over time as the machine learns with its own rate and model upgrades, what is available on the internet etc. However, serious competition will start once Google launches there Bard services to all users and we will see a race for AI Search Engine. We have seen before when Google launched there search service 2 decades back and how it dominated the internet, however who wins this race will be seen over time.