Microsoft opens its Bing with artificial intelligence to all users | CNN Business

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Microsoft is rolling out the new AI-powered version of its Bing search engine to anyone who wants to use it.

Nearly three months after the company debuted a limited preview version of its new Bing, powered by viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, Microsoft is opening it up to all users without a waiting list, as long as they’re signed in to the search engine using Microsoft’s Edge. browser

The move highlights Microsoft’s commitment to moving forward with the product, even as the AI ​​technology behind it has raised concerns. around inaccuracies and tone. In some cases, people who attacked the new Bing were subject to some emotionally reactive and aggressive responses.

“We’re getting better at speed, getting better at accuracy…but we’re on a never-ending quest to get better and better,” Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft vice president who oversees its AI initiatives, told CNN on Wednesday.

Bing now has more than 100 million daily active users, a significant increase in recent months, according to Mehdi. Google, which has long dominated the market, is also adding similar AI features to its search engine.

In February, Microsoft showed how its revamped search engine could write summaries of search results, chat with users to answer additional questions about a query, and write emails or other compositions based on the results.

At a press event in New York City on Wednesday, the company shared an early look at some of the updates, including the ability to ask questions with images, access chat history so the chatbot remembers its relationship with users and export responses to Microsoft Word. Users can also customize the tone and style of the chatbot’s responses, choosing from a longer, more creative response to something shorter. and to the point

The wave of attention in recent months around ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI with financial support from Microsoft helped reignite an arms race among tech companies to deploy similar AI tools in their products. OpenAI, Microsoft and Google are at the forefront of this trend, but IBM, Amazon, Baidu and Tencent are working on similar technologies. A long list of startups are also developing AI writing assistants and image generators.

Beyond adding AI features to search, Microsoft has said it plans to bring ChatGPT technology to its core productivity tools, including Word, Excel and Outlook, with the potential to change the way we work. However, the decision to add generative AI features to Bing could be particularly risky, given how many people rely on search engines for accurate and reliable information.

Microsoft’s moves also come amid heightened scrutiny over the rapid pace of advancement in AI technology. In March, some of the biggest names in tech, including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, asked artificial intelligence labs to stop training the most powerful AI systems for at least six months, citing “profound risks for society and humanity”.

Mehdi said he doesn’t think the AI ​​industry is moving too fast and suggested calls for a pause aren’t particularly helpful.

“Some people think we should stop development for six months, but I’m not sure that solves anything, makes things better or moves things forward,” he said. “But I understand where the concern is coming from.”

He added: “The only way to really build this technology well is to get it out in the open to the public so we can have conversations about it.”