Microsoft has unveiled two new AI-powered features for its Bing search engine that promise to give users a more immersive search experience. The first of these is ‘Knowledge Cards 2.0,’ which will display bite-sized chunks of information on the right side of the search results page.
These cards will include facts, timelines, and related topics, all generated by AI. Along with Knowledge Cards, Microsoft has also introduced Stories, which will offer more context to users’ areas of interest in the search engine using text, images, and video.
According to a blog post on the official Bing website, the newly introduced knowledge panels will be accompanied by AI-generated stories that provide additional information on users’ search topics through text, images, and video. These will be accessible to all Bing users in English, French, Japanese, German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, and Arabic.languages for all Bing users.
While the updates are impressive, there is some skepticism over the reliability of the AI-generated information. Microsoft’s Bing AI has a history of making up information, and while the company claims to have done its due diligence, it remains to be seen whether the bot has its facts straight. Nevertheless, the steady stream of updates from Microsoft shows that the company is committed to evolving and improving its AI-powered product quickly.
Microsoft has increased the session limit of Bing Chat from 15 to 20 turns. Michael Schechter, the Vice President of Microsoft Bing’s Growth and Distribution team, tweeted that the company has tested increasing the daily chat limit to 200.
Google’s development of its own bot from the ground up explains the delays in new features and updates for its search engine. Still, Microsoft’s frequent updates and tests are attracting users to its platform. Google has yet to put out major updates or introduce significant new features to its search engine, leaving users tempted to switch to Microsoft’s side.
Users are considering switching to Microsoft due to the lack of major updates and new features in Google Bard, while Microsoft is using OpenAI’s GPT-4 and has access to other OpenAI products like DALL-E. There are doubts about the reliability of Google’s future updates.
Overall, Microsoft’s updates are a shake-up in the search engine industry, and users may soon be using Microsoft Edge to take advantage of Bing AI. While Google may catch up, Microsoft’s commitment to AI-powered consumer tech means that it is currently leading the way in search engine innovation.