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What is Bing Chat? Here's everything you need to know
What is Bing Chat?
In early February, Microsoft unveiled a new version of Bing with its standout feature being its AI chatbot that is powered by the same technology behind ChatGPT.
When first announced, the public was told that the new Bing had a chat feature powered by a next-generation version of OpenAI's large language model that made it "more powerful than ChatGPT", according to Microsoft.
Also: How to use the new Bing (and how it's different from ChatGPT)
Later, we found out that Bing's AI chat was actually powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 the entire time.
With the new Bing, you can ask the AI chatbot questions and get detailed, human-like responses with footnotes that link back to the original sources and up-to-date information.
The chatbot can also help you with your creative desires, such as writing a poem, story or song, and even generating images from text by using Bing's Image Creator within the same platform.
What new Bing Chat features were announced at Microsoft Build?
The tech giant made many announcements regarding AI at Microsoft Build 2023. Unsurprisingly, many of these updates were related to Bing Chat.
The biggest and most exciting news from the event was that Microsoft supercharged ChatGPT with Bing's AI-powered search.
The new Bing will support ChatGPT as its default search experience, granting ChatGPT access to the entirety of the web as well as information on current events.
As a result of the partnership, ChatGPT will also have citations now, allowing users to see exactly where their answers came from.
Also: How to use ChatGPT: What you need to know now
Microsoft also announced it will adopt the same open plugin standard as OpenAI, which will allow for interoperability across ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
This is major news for Bing Chat users because OpenAI rolled out 70+ plugins to its ChatGPT Plus subscribers just a week before Build.
Also: Microsoft embraces OpenAI's ChatGPT plugin standard
Bing Chat is also expected to get more plugins in addition to OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha, including Kayak, Klarna, Redfin, and Zillow.
Lastly, Bing Chat will not only be found in Edge but also in Windows 11 through a new Windows Copilot.
What have been some other recent updates to Bing Chat?
Microsoft has been on a hot streak for releasing updates. On a weekly basis, if not more often, Bing Chat has been getting convenient updates. The most recent batch dropped leading up to Microsoft Build.
In a May 22 release, Bing Chat got several long-awaited features, including a chat history and no more chat or turn limits.
Other bells and whistles included better visuals in answers, videos in answers, improved auto-suggest, optimized answers for recipes, and privacy improvements in the Edge sidebar.
Before this release, Microsoft announced new AI features to its Bing, Swiftkey, Skype, and Edge apps. The highlight of this wave of updates was a Bing Chat widget that allows you to access Bing Chat from your smartphone's home screen.
When was Microsoft's new Bing announced?
On February 7, 2023, Microsoft announced the new Bing in limited preview, meaning only a select number of people had access to it. This announcement came a day after Google announced its AI chatbot, Google Bard. On May 4, 2023, Microsoft made the new Bing available to anyone who was willing to sign in to Bing with their Microsoft account.
What language model does Microsoft's Bing Chat use?
When Microsoft announced the Bing chatbot in February, it said the chatbot would run on a next-generation OpenAI large language model (LLM) customized specifically for search.
Microsoft said the next-gen LLM powering the new Bing is faster, more accurate, and "more capable" than ChatGPT or GPT-3.5, the LLM behind ChatGPT.
Also: How to use Midjourney to generate amazing images
Five weeks after launching, Microsoft revealed that Bing Chat runs on OpenAI's latest language model, GPT-4.
At the moment, the only free way to access GPT-4 is Bing Chat. GPT-4 is a more reliable, intelligent, and capable model than its predecessor, GPT-3.5. ChatGPT Plus users can access GPT-4 for the price of their Plus accounts.
What is Bing Chat's chat limit?
Since being released, the chatbot has gone through a series of chat limit changes. The most recent limit is 20 turns per conversation and 200 chats per day.
However, in late May, users on Twitter spotted the removal of a chat limit and chat turns. Instead of seeing a chat limit in the lower left-hand corner of each individual chat, you now see a character tracker with a limit of 4,000 characters per chat.
Who has access to Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot?
On May 4, the new Bing moved from limited preview to open preview, meaning everyone now has access to the chatbot without having to join a pesky waitlist.
Also: This new AI system can read minds accurately about half the time
All you need to do to access the preview now is sign into Bing with your Microsoft account and you're all set.
Do you need a Microsoft account to access Bing's AI chatbot?
The guaranteed, straightforward way to access the full capabilities of Bing Chat is by signing in to your Microsoft account.
However, if you don't have a Microsoft account -- and have no desire to create one soon -- you are in luck.
On May 16, Michael Schechter, vice president of growth and distribution at Microsoft, shared via Twitter that Microsoft is rolling out unauthenticated chat access on Bing.
With this update, users without a Microsoft account will be able to access a limited version of the chatbot. Without signing in to a Microsoft account, users are limited to five chat turns instead of the standard 20.
What can you do with Bing Chat?
You can use Bing Chat for the same prompts you would use any other AI chatbot, including ChatGPT. This includes the ability to generate new content such as images, essays, code, text, and more.
Bing Chat can also serve as a more conversational web search engine. Since it has access to the internet, Bing Chat can answer any question you have about current events, history, random facts, and more -- concisely and conversationally.
As of May 26, Bing Chat can even answer questions regarding sports including, "games, schedules, stats, and standings across a variety of sports," according to Microsoft's Bing blog.
Is there a Bing Chat app?
Starting the week of May 16, Microsoft rolled out a Bing Chat widget that users can add to their smartphone's home screen. In addition to accessing the chatbot with more ease, the widget allows people to use the microphone icon to ask any verbal question.
The widget was originally only available for iOS, but starting on May 26, the widget became available for Android devices too.
To improve the flow between conversations across devices, Microsoft also implemented a feature where users can resume their desktop conversations on either iOS and Android.
Also: These 4 popular Microsoft apps are getting a big AI boost
To take advantage of that feature, all users need to do is click on the answer on their desktop and select the phone icon in the options menu to view the QR Code. Once the code is scanned by the smartphone, users can resume the conversation on their phones.
What is Microsoft's involvement with ChatGPT?
Microsoft was involved with ChatGPT before incorporating it into its Bing browser. The tech giant was an early investor in OpenAI, the AI research company behind ChatGPT, even before ChatGPT was released to the public.
Also: Microsoft launches bug bounty program for the new Bing
Microsoft's first involvement with OpenAI was in 2019, when Microsoft invested $1 billion, and then $2 billion in the years after. In January, Microsoft extended its partnership with OpenAI through a multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment.
Neither company disclosed the investment value, but unnamed sources told Bloomberg it will total $10 billion over multiple years. In return, Microsoft's Azure service will be OpenAI's exclusive cloud-computing provider, powering all OpenAI workloads across research, products, and API services.
What was the initial controversy around Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot?
Select users were given early access to the chatbot, and they were not been shy about sharing their experiences. Many of these users tested the chatbot's capabilities and exposed its flaws, which were varied.
From revealing its confidential codename used internally by developers to declaring its love to a New York Times writer and onto asking him to leave his wife and wishing it was alive, the chatbot was acting out of hand.
Also: Why open source is essential to allaying AI fears, according to Stability.ai founder
Consequently, Microsoft reeled in the chatbot with a new session limit, changing chat sessions from unlimited to a five-question limit, and a 50-chat turn limit per day. That limit was then expanded to six chat turns per session and 60 total chats per day, still less than the original experience users got.
Microsoft noted that convoluted, long chat sessions were not something it was testing for internally, so the public's use and feedback has actually been useful in learning more about the chatbot.
"In fact, the very reason we are testing the new Bing in the open with a limited set of preview testers is precisely to find these atypical use cases from which we can learn and improve the product," said Microsoft.
Is Bing Chat better than ChatGPT?
ZDNET has tested both Microsoft Bing's chatbot and Open AI's ChatGPT chatbot. We found Bing's version solved some of the major problems we had with ChatGPT, including knowledge of current events via internet access and footnotes with links to sources from the information it pulled.
Also: ChatGPT vs. Bing: Which AI chatbot is better for you?
Bing Chat is also the only way to access OpenAI's latest LLM, GPT-4, for free. For these reasons, Bing Chat earned its spot as ZDNET's overall best AI chatbot.
Will Microsoft be introducing new updates to Bing Chat soon?
Yes, Microsoft has been introducing major upgrades to its chatbot and will continue to do so in the coming weeks and months.
The updates include new visual elements, an option to save and export chats, a Microsoft Edge facelift, improved summarization capabilities in Edge, and even plugins for third parties.
Also: I asked ChatGPT, Bing, and Bard what worries them
To learn more about all the updates, check out the new AI-powered Bing is now open to everyone -- with some serious upgrades.
Will a premium tier come to Bing Chat anytime soon?
Even though Microsoft announced that several major upgrades would be coming to the chatbot soon, the company hasn't mentioned charging customers to use the technology.
"Our goal is always for all these features, to be able to get to worldwide coverage, we want to make sure that thing is accessible to any market along the way," Dena Saunders, partner general manager for Bing, told ZDNET.
This availability further differentiates Bing's AI chatbot from ChatGPT, which introduced ChatGPT Plus, its subscription service to offer customers perks such as the latest features.
How will releasing Bing Chat affect Microsoft?
Microsoft's search engine is undergoing an unprecedented run in the spotlight after being overshadowed by Google Search for the past 14 years.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said ChatGPT will "fundamentally change" all software, starting with what he said was the "largest category of all -- search." Microsoft claims the addition to Bing of its next-generation version of OpenAI's GPT will lead to the "largest jump in relevance in two decades." For this task, it developed "Microsoft Prometheus," a proprietary model that meshes with OpenAI's models to generate more relevant results.
Also: Microsoft: This is how we integrated ChatGPT-style tech into Bing search
If the buzz around ChatGPT does rub off on Bing as a search engine, Microsoft could see its user numbers increase meaningfully. ChatGPT gained 100 million users within just two months to become the fastest-growing 'app' of all time.
According to Statista, Bing has 1.2 billion users. But Bing also only has about 4% of the world's search market, compared to Google's 92%, according to Statcounter GlobalStats.
In a recent blog post, Mehdi shared that, "Bing has grown to exceed 100 million daily active users and daily installs of the Bing mobile app have increased 4X since launch."