Microsoft says Bing may be the default search engine for ChatGPT users

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it will offer Bing as the default search engine in OpenAI’s viral chatbot ChatGPT.

This is the latest merger between the two companies, which are at the center of the generative artificial intelligence boom. Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and uses the startup’s AI chatbot technology in search, email, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and now to analyze data.

investment related news

“This is just the beginning of what we plan to do with our partners at OpenAI to bring the best of Bing to the ChatGPT experience,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Tuesday at the Build conference. from Microsoft in Seattle.

In addition to money, OpenAI relies on Microsoft’s Azure cloud for its computing needs. At the same time, companies are attacking Googlewhich has developed its own generative AI models for research and other products and also invests heavily in startups in the space.

With the latest announcement, subscribers to the ChatGPT Plus service will be able to add Bing search by activating a plugin, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft consumer marketing manager, wrote in a blog post. Users of ChatGPT’s free service will soon be able to do the same.

“ChatGPT will now have a built-in world-class search engine to provide faster and more up-to-date answers with access from the web,” Mehdi wrote. “Now ChatGPT answers can be based on search and web data and include quotes so you can learn more, all right from the chat.”

Microsoft is trying to expand use of Bing, which has struggled for years to gain market share from Google. For every percentage point of search advertising share the company recoups, it would generate $2 billion in additional revenue, Microsoft chief financial officer Amy Hood said in February.

Since ChatGPT became available in November, one of its limitations, according to critics, is that it has not been able to discuss recent events. The Bing chatbot, powered by OpenAI technology, that Microsoft announced in February was different because it was able to draw on current information to provide answers to typed questions.

OpenAI sought to expand ChatGPT’s capabilities when it announced the concept of plugins in March. Expediainstagram, Shopify and Slack are among the online services that have launched plugins, but there is a waiting list for others to join.

Microsoft said developers will be able to create plugins that work in ChatGPT, Bing and its upcoming Copilot chatbot on Microsoft 365 apps such as Word and Excel.

SHOW: OpenAI releases ChatGPT app for iOS