Bing brings AI: 5 things to try with Microsoft’s new search tools

Microsoft announced an improved Bing on Tuesday, explaining how it is used AI technology behind ChatGPT to offer a set of new tools within the long-running second-place search engine. There is already a waiting list for the serviceand Microsoft says it will be widely available and free to use in the coming months.

CEO Satya Nadella said the advanced search service aims to accommodate queries that don’t perform well in today’s search engines. People are increasingly using search engines to get advice and information on complex topics, not just a link to a website, and Bing’s AI boost aims to make it more usable.

“It’s a new day in search,” Nadella said at Tuesday’s event.

ChatGPT, an AI-based chatbot from a company called OpenAI, burst onto the scene in November with a game-changing capacity to extract information from the web and present it in believable essays, poems, and even screenplays. It sparked a strong interest in AI that caught the attention of millions, including Big Tech players. Last month, Microsoft said it would invest billions of dollars in OpenAI. On Monday, Google, the Web’s dominant search engine, announced Bard, its ChatGPT challenger.

The technology will have to overcome concerns about accuracy and safety – previous chatbots have been taken offline for spewing hate, for example. For now, Microsoft says its technology makes Bing your web copilot. Here’s a taste of what you can try with AI-powered search.

Search

You can search Bing.com as always. What’s new here is that Microsoft has applied the OpenAI model to its search engine ranking engine. This has led to a huge jump in the relevance of search results, the company says, so Microsoft believes you’ll find better answers to your basic searches on Bing.

AI also supplements search results with written summaries. A use case that Microsoft predicts will be popular is travel planning. If you’re going to New Orleans for three days, for example, what should you do? A Bing search will show you not only links to sites with sightseeing and museum suggestions for the Big Easy, but also an AI-written sidebar of information from around the web. The sidebar will link to resources that may allow you to explore further.

Ask for more details

If you want to ask more questions after your initial Bing search, you can click the chat icon at the top of the search page. You can refine the results here. In the trip planning example, you can do things like clarify that you’re visiting New Orleans with kids or request a three-day itinerary for your visit.

Bing can offer some pretty subtle results in this conversational format. In addition to a detailed itinerary with descriptions of the places you will visit, you can request travel time between activities in New Orleans, for example.

This also applies to seeking advice on a home improvement project, such as installing an air conditioner in your house. If you clarify that you already have air ducts in your home, for example, this may give you information more relevant to your project.

write something

The new Bing can type for you. After researching your home improvement project, for example, you ask Bing to write an email to your partner summarizing what you’ve found. You can edit what you’ve written, click the text box of a new email, and Bing will insert it there.

You can also ask Bing to type something with a new prompt like many others ChatGPT writing examples that users have recently shared online. Anything from the quirky “write a story about a curious dog going to the moon for preschoolers” to the more serious “write a letter to my apartment objecting to the upcoming rent increase” can generate text. You can also change the tone of the writing, such as asking it to be funny.

Get context for a website

In the newly updated Edge browser, you’ll be able to open a Bing sidebar and get more information about something you’re browsing online. For example, you can open a product listing on Amazon and then open the sidebar to ask Bing to tell you about the product. It will give you a summary of the product specifications, price and use cases.

For a specific iRobot vacuum cleaner, for example, you can also ask Bing for examples of reviews from cat owners. This will bring up quotes from Amazon reviews of the vacuum that mention cats and some summaries from Bing.

You can also ask Bing to give you the main takeaways from a long document and then compare it to another document.

Ask a broad question

If you’ve ever typed a query like “who are some famous Mexican artists?” in a search engine, you’re probably familiar with trying to get a sample of a website, a list of relevant people, and a link to Wikipedia. The query is so broad that you usually have to leave the search page to get an answer. The new Bing wants you to stay, at least for a while.

Ask about Mexican artists in the new Bing and you’ll get a written summary of the key players and a description of their work. You can click on links to sources to learn more if you wish, or you can request more refined results in the chat function.

Editor’s note: CNET uses an AI engine to create some personal finance explanations that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more see this post.