March 21, 2023 – Microsoft has announced the addition of a groundbreaking new feature to its Bing search engine, called Image Creator. Bing Image Creator, AI-powered visual Stories, and updated Knowledge Cards to the new Bing and Edge preview. These features, which are designed to enhance the chat experience and make Bing more visually engaging, will be rolling out to Bing preview users on both desktop and mobile devices starting today. Bing Image Creator, powered by an advanced version of OpenAI’s DALL·E model, allows users to create images from text prompts, offering a seamless way to generate both written and visual content within the chat.
The human brain processes visual information much faster than text, making visual tools essential for searching, creating, and gaining understanding. Bing data reveals that images are the second most searched category after general web searches. Previously, users could only search for existing images on the web, but Bing Image Creator now allows for nearly limitless possibilities in searching for and creating images.
Bing Image Creator will be fully integrated into the Bing chat experience, initially rolling out in Creative mode. Users can generate images by typing a description, providing additional context, and choosing an art style. Bing Image Creator preview will also be available in Microsoft Edge, making it the first browser with an integrated AI-powered image generator. To use Bing Image Creator in Edge, users can click the Bing Image Creator icon in the sidebar or invoke it from Bing chat in Edge.
To ensure the responsible use of Image Creator, Microsoft has implemented OpenAI’s safeguards along with additional protections. Controls have been put in place to limit the generation of harmful or unsafe images, and when a potentially harmful image could be generated, the system blocks the prompt and warns the user. Each generated image will have a modified Bing icon in the bottom left corner to indicate that it was created using Image Creator.
In addition to Bing Image Creator, Microsoft is making Stories and Knowledge Cards 2.0 available to all Bing users. Stories offer a more engaging way to search and interact with content through images and short videos, while Knowledge Cards 2.0 provide AI-powered, infographic-inspired experiences with fun facts and key information at a glance.
Bing Image Creator integrated into Bing chat will begin rolling out to Bing preview users today. For those not in the new Bing preview, the preview experience of Image Creator is now available at bing.com/create in English, with more language support coming soon. Bing Image Creator will also be available in Microsoft Edge from the Image Creator icon in the sidebar for both desktop and mobile in English, with plans to integrate Image Creator into Edge from the new Bing button in chat mode in the preview version of Edge.