Microsoft and OpenAI have teamed up to launch an all new AI-powered Bing search engine and Edge browser to deliver better search results, complete answers, a new chat experience and content generation capabilities. The new Bing and Edge is designed to serve as what Microsoft is calling an “AI copilot for the web”, with the aim of empowering people to “unlock the joy of discovery and harness the world’s knowledge.” According to Microsoft, there are 10 billion search queries a day, but they estimate that half of them go unanswered. With the new Bing and Edge, Microsoft is seeking to address this problem by integrating search, browsing, and chat into one unified experience.
The new Bing offers an improved version of the familiar search experience, providing more relevant results for simple things like sports scores, stock prices and weather, along with a new sidebar that provides more comprehensive answers. Bing uses AI to review results from across the web to provide the answers users are looking for. For more complex searches, the new Bing offers an interactive chat experience to refine search results until users find the complete answer they are looking for.
The Edge browser has also been updated with new AI capabilities and a new look, including a chat and compose functionality. The Edge Sidebar allows users to ask for a summary of a lengthy financial report, for example, and then use the chat function to ask for comparisons to other financial reports. The Edge browser can also help users compose content, such as a LinkedIn post, by giving them prompts to get started.
The new Bing experience is made possible by four technical breakthroughs: a next-generation OpenAI model, the Microsoft Prometheus model, the application of AI to the core search algorithm and a new user experience. These developments have led to the largest jump in relevance in two decades, making even basic search queries more accurate and relevant.
Microsoft and OpenAI have also taken steps to implement safeguards to protect against harmful content and ensure the responsible use of AI. The new Bing and Edge are available in preview now at Bing.com.
