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Tag: Bing

  • AI Helps Drive Bing Across the 100M Daily User Threshold

    AI Helps Drive Bing Across the 100M Daily User Threshold

    Bing has hit an important milestone, thanks to an AI-driven boost, now boasting 100 million Daily Active Users.

    Bing may be the second-largest search engine in the world, but it’s still a distant second to Google. The company’s foray into AI-powered search has certainly helped it gain some ground, turning Bing into a household name and helping drive the search engine across the 100M Daily Active User mark.

    Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s VP for Modern Life, Search and Devices, broke the news in a blog post:

    We are pleased to share that after a number of years of steady progress, and with a little bit of a boost from the million+ new Bing preview users, we have crossed 100M Daily Active Users of Bing. This is a surprisingly notable figure, and yet we are fully aware we remain a small, low, single digit share player. That said, it feels good to be at the dance!

    Interestingly, the uptick is not just old users returning to give Bing and its AI another try:

    Of the millions of active users of the new Bing preview, it’s great to see that roughly one third are new to Bing. We see this appeal of the new Bing as a validation of our view that search is due for a reinvention and of the unique value proposition of combining Search + Answers + Chat + Creation in one experience.

    Mehdi also attributes the growth to Bing’s search results being better than ever:

    The second factor driving trial and usage is that our core web search ranking has taken several significant jumps in relevancy due to the introduction of the Prometheus model so our Bing search quality is at an all-time high.

    It’s nice to see Bing gaining traction and continuing to provide an alternative to Google’s dominance.

  • Meta Plans to Incorporate AI Across Its Platforms

    Meta Plans to Incorporate AI Across Its Platforms

    Meta is preparing to incorporate artificial intelligence across its platforms, playing catch-up to Microsoft and Google.

    Microsoft has been leading the charge on AI, incorporating next-generation ChatGPT tech into Bing. Google is similarly attempting to deploy AI across its services. Meta, on the other hand, has been noticeably absent from any discussions regarding AI — at least until Monday.

    In a Facebook post, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to roll out AI across the company’s various products and services:

    We’re creating a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI to turbocharge our work in this area. We’re starting by pulling together a lot of the teams working on generative AI across the company into one group focused on building delightful experiences around this technology into all of our different products. In the short term, we’ll focus on building creative and expressive tools. Over the longer term, we’ll focus on developing AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways. We’re exploring experiences with text (like chat in WhatsApp and Messenger), with images (like creative Instagram filters and ad formats), and with video and multi-modal experiences. We have a lot of foundational work to do before getting to the really futuristic experiences, but I’m excited about all of the new things we’ll build along the way.

    Given Zuckerberg’s obsession with the metaverse, it’s almost surprising to see something else capture his attention enough to warrant a “new top-level product group.” That fact that AI is that thing only emphasizes the importance of the burgeoning tech.

  • Users Can Now Adjust Bing AI’s Personality

    Users Can Now Adjust Bing AI’s Personality

    Microsoft has added a major new feature to its Bing AI, allowing users to choose how they want the AI to behave.

    Microsoft announced a preview of its AI-powered Bing search in early February. The AI is a new and improved version of the OpenAI tech behind ChatGPT. Early reviews have been all over the place, with people ranging from impressed to creeped out.

    Microsoft has been steadily improving the experience, with the most recent feature upgrade giving users the ability to dial in how Bing will respond and interact. A new toggle gives users the ability to choose between More Creative, More Balanced, and More Precise. The company describes each option:

    More Creative

    Responses are original and imaginative, creating surprise and entertainment for you.

    More Balanced

    Responses are reasonable and coherent, balancing accuracy and creativity in conversation.

    More Precise

    Responses are factual and concise, prioritizing accuracy and relevancy for you.

    The new options are a nice touch, giving users more control over the experience.

  • It’s Official: Bing Is Cool, and Google Search Is In Trouble

    It’s Official: Bing Is Cool, and Google Search Is In Trouble

    Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing represents an existential threat to Google’s search, with early reports suggesting Google may be in serious trouble.

    Microsoft unveiled its AI-powered Bing last week, using a new and improved version of the OpenAI tech behind ChatGPT. The move is largely seen as one of the biggest challenges Google has faced to its core search business and could help Bing make major headway against its rival.

    Early reports indicate that Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing is performing far better than critics anticipated and is serving up better results than an old-school Google search. In fact, CNET’s Stephen Shankland put ten questions to both search engines and came away preferring Bing’s response to eight of the questions. Interestingly, Bing did especially well on complex questions, as well as at providing information about recent events, such as the US shooting down a ‘high-altitude object’ over Alaska.

    Read More: Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Similarly, Android Central posted a poll to see how many of its readers would be willing to switch to the new Bing once it’s available to the public. A whopping 52% said they would switch and give Bing a try, with 11% already using Bing and only 30% saying they would stick with Google.

    Indeed, Microsoft VP Yusuf Mehdi revealed the company quickly saw more than one million people sign up to test-drive the new Bing.

    Needless to say, Google is not going to take this challenge to its business lying down. In fact, the company has been rushing to roll out its own ChatGPT challenger, Bard. Unfortunately, in its rush, the company bungled Bard’s unveiling. This led to a $100 billion drop in the company’s value and vocal criticism of CEO Sundar Pichai from Google’s own employees.

    The picture is clear: Microsoft has taken an early lead in the AI search wars and is moving quickly to capitalize on it. This has resulted in Bing being seen as cool — quite possibly for the first time ever.

    And Google? Google is in real trouble — quite possibly for the first time ever.

  • Microsoft Expands AI Bing Preview to Mobile Apps & Skype

    Microsoft Expands AI Bing Preview to Mobile Apps & Skype

    Microsoft has expanded its AI-powered Bing preview, incorporating it in Bing and Edge mobile apps, as well as Skype.

    Microsoft announced a version of Bing powered by AI on February 7. The AI is the next-generation version of the OpenAI tech used in ChatGPT. The response to the new Bing has been all over the spectrum, but one thing is clear: Bing is getting more attention than it has in years, if ever.

    As a result, it’s not surprising that Microsoft is continuing to roll out the new search engine, bringing it to Skype, as well as the company’s mobile apps. Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, announced the news in a blog post:

    We’re beginning to roll out the incredible capabilities of the new Bing and Edge on your smartphone along with some exciting new features, such as voice input. In addition, we are creating a new chat experience, beginning with Skype, to enhance your social communications with your friends and family.

    The company also sees Bing as being a copilot for users in their Skype chats:

    Imagine having a copilot for your friends and family as you stay connected and plan your next get together. Simply add Bing to the group, as you would any Skype contact, and now you can ask Bing to answer questions and provide information for the entire group. For example, if your family is chatting about the next family reunion, you can simply ask Bing for suggestions on travel destinations, expected weather forecasts and interesting events around your time of travel, and everyone in the chat will get access to the results. When you are catching up with friends, you can ask Bing to simply fetch information from the web, for example, the latest news or last night’s award shows to add to your conversation.

    Everyone in the preview will automatically have access to the new Bing on both mobile and Skype.

  • Google CEO Wants Employees to Spend 2-4 Hours Improving Bard AI

    Google CEO Wants Employees to Spend 2-4 Hours Improving Bard AI

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is pulling out all the stops to improve the company’s Bard AI, asking employees to spend 2-4 hours helping.

    Bard is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company is playing catch-up to OpenAI and Microsoft, with the latter planning to add ChatGPT’s successor to its Bing search engine. Despite Google’s long history with AI development, Bard’s launch did not go well, with the AI getting an answer wrong in the company’s ad, knocking $100 billion off of Alphabet’s value.

    Pichai is eager to see Bard improve and is recruiting Googlers throughout the company to achieve the goal, according to a memo seen by Business Insider.

    “I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that’s to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential,” Pichai wrote. “The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly.”

    In this memo, Pichai is clearly trying to generate and channel excitement, asking employees to “contribute” their time toward the effort.

    Full memo, courtesy of Insider:

    Hi Googlers,

    Excited to see us opening up Bard for an internal dogfood to help us get it ready for launch. This is an important step as we work to develop the technology responsibly – a big thank you to the Bard team and to everyone who is spending time testing it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find instructions on how to participate at go/bard-dogfood.

    I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that’s to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential. This will be a long journey – for everyone, across the field. The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly. That’s why we have thousands of external and internal testers testing Bard’s responses for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information. Let’s embrace the challenge and keep iterating, including with users and developers.

    And remember, some of our most successful products were not first to market. They gained momentum because they solved important user needs and were built on deep technical insights. Over time, we earned user trust and more people began to rely on them.

    Here is where we can use your help: Channel the energy and excitement of the moment into our products. Pressure test Bard and make the product better. I would appreciate it if each of you contributed in a deeper way with 2-4 hours of your time. See below for more detail.

    AI has gone through many winters and springs. And now it is blooming again. As an AI-first company, we’ve been working towards this for many years and are ready for it. Let’s stay focused on delivering amazing experiences for our users and launch things we can all be proud of.

    -Sundar

  • AppSheet Founder: Google ‘Slowly Ceased to Function’

    AppSheet Founder: Google ‘Slowly Ceased to Function’

    AppSheet founder Praveen Seshadri, who sold his company to Google Cloud in 2020, has harsh words for the tech giant.

    Seshadri posted a blog on Medium outlining his experience with Google after the company acquired his AppSheet. The founder seems to confirm what many investors and analysts have feared, painting a picture of a company that is floundering and has lost much of what made it special:

    I joined Google just before the pandemic when the company I had co-founded, AppSheet, was acquired by Google Cloud. The acquiring team and executives welcomed us and treated us well. We joined with great enthusiasm and commitment to integrate AppSheet into Google and make it a success. Yet, now at the expiry of my three year mandatory retention period, I have left Google understanding how a once-great company has slowly ceased to function.

    Seshadri then goes on to highlight the crossroads Google is at as Microsoft and its OpenAI-powered Bing threaten the company’s search dominance:

    It is a fragile moment for Google with the pressure from OpenAI + Microsoft. Most people view this challenge along the technology axis, although there is now the gnawing suspicion that it might be a symptom of some deeper malaise. The recent layoffs have caused angst within the company as many employees view this as a failure of management or a surrender to activist investors. In a way, this reflects a general lack of self-awareness across both management and employees.

    Read More: Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Ultimately, Seshadri boils Google’s issues down to four specific things:

    (1) no mission, (2) no urgency, (3) delusions of exceptionalism, (4) mismanagement.

    Interestingly, Seshadri makes a similar observation to the one we made here at WPN when we compared Microsoft and Google and drew the conclusion that Google has become risk-averse compared to its Redmond rival:

    Google can no longer seek success by avoiding risk. The path forward has to start with culture change and that has to start at the very top. Google’s senior executives should look at what Satya Nadella did at Microsoft and execute a similar playbook.

    Seshadri’s blog is a lengthy one, detailing far more than we can cover in this article. Nonetheless, it’s an outstanding read and illustrates why it increasingly seems that Google is in real trouble.

  • DuckDuckGPT Combines DuckDuckGo and ChatGPT

    DuckDuckGPT Combines DuckDuckGo and ChatGPT

    Microsoft may be working to bring ChatGPT-based tech to Bing, but one enterprising developer has already the AI to DuckDuckGo.

    DuckDuckGo is the privacy-focused search engine that has steadily been growing in popularity as individuals become more concerned with protecting their online privacy. Developer Adam Lui has created an extension that adds ChatGPT results to the DuckDuckGo sidebar.

    Lui details the necessary steps to install the script on his GitHub page:

    1. Install Tampermonkey (Chrome, Firefox) or Violentmonkey (Chrome, Firefox).
    2. Install DuckDuckGPT.
    3. Visit DuckDuckGo.com and perform a search. The ChatGPT results should show up on the right.

    Microsoft is incorporating an updated and improved version of the tech behind ChatGPT in Bing, but DuckDuckGPT is a nice alternative that’s available right now.

  • Google CEO Under Fire for ‘Rushed, Botched’ AI Reveal

    Google CEO Under Fire for ‘Rushed, Botched’ AI Reveal

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is under fire from employees over how the company has handled its response to Microsoft’s AI.

    Microsoft unveiled a version of Bing that is powered by an updated version of the tech behind ChatGPT, bringing the power of artificial intelligence to web search. When ChatGPT first burst onto the scene, Google was caught off guard and has been scrambling to play catchup, unveiling its Bard AI in an effort to remain competitive.

    Unfortunately for the company, the launch did not go well. Bard got one of the questions wrong in the company’s ad, and one of the presenters at the big reveal forgot to bring a phone that was crucial to the demo, according to CNBC.

    The missteps are not going over well with Google employees, many of whom have been taking to Memegen, the company’s internal forum, to complain. While employees often post memes on the forum to goodnaturedly poke fun at the company, many of the responses to Google’s AI efforts took a more serious tone.

    “Dear Sundar, the Bard launch and the layoffs were rushed, botched, and myopic,” read one meme, accompanied by a serious picture of Pichai. “Please return to taking a long-term outlook.” The post received many upvotes.

    “Sundar, and leadership, deserve a Perf NI,” read another popular meme, referencing the lowest employment performance review category. “They are being comically short sighted and un-Googlely in their pursuit of ‘sharpening focus.’”

    One Googler even pointed out that the company’s handling of the unveil was confirming the industry’s fears that Google has lost its way and was caught flatfooted.

    “Rushing Bard to market in a panic validated the market’s fear about us,” read a highly-rated meme.

    Google is clearly in a position it is not used to being in, forced to play from behind and overcome a competitor’s technical advantage. Unfortunately, how Pichai and company have responded is not putting anyone’s fears to rest about the company’s ability to overcome this existential threat to its core business.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently commented that Microsoft ‘made Google dance,’ but he may not have realized just how uncomfortable a dance it is.

  • Satya Nadella: ‘We Made Google Dance’ With AI-Powered Bing

    Satya Nadella: ‘We Made Google Dance’ With AI-Powered Bing

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is enjoying putting pressure on Google using ChatGPT, saying he has “been waiting for it.”

    Microsoft unveiled an AI-powered version of Bing on Tuesday, offering a limited preview of its next-gen search engine. Microsoft is using a new and improved version of the OpenAI tech behind ChatGPT, and Nadella believes it will finally bring some real competition to the search market.

    In an interview with The Verge, Nadella acknowledged that Google is the undisputed leader but that Microsoft has a real chance to make some headway:

    We competed today. Today was a day where we brought some more competition to search. Believe me, I’ve been at it for 20 years, and I’ve been waiting for it. But look, at the end of the day, they’re the 800-pound gorilla in this. That is what they are. And I hope that, with our innovation, they will definitely want to come out and show that they can dance. And I want people to know that we made them dance, and I think that’ll be a great day.

    Many experts believe AI is poised to revolutionize the search market and represents the biggest threat to Google’s dominance. Nadella is right that Microsoft’s announcement ‘made Google dance,’ with the company scrambling to come up with an answer.

    Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai issued a “code red” in response, and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin began taking a hands-on role in the company for the first time in years. Google unveiled its answer in the form of its Bard AI, only to see it provide the wrong answer to a question in its debut ad.

    If Microsoft is able to execute effectively and capitalize on its position, it could greatly benefit customers, resulting in some of the biggest search innovations in the last two decades.

  • Google Bard Flubs Its Debut, Gives Wrong Answer in Company Ad

    Google Bard Flubs Its Debut, Gives Wrong Answer in Company Ad

    Google Bard, the company’s ChatGPT competitor, has flubbed its debut by providing the wrong answer to a question.

    Microsoft unveiled its version of an AI-powered Bing yesterday, incorporating a new and improved version of the OpenAI tech behind ChatGPT. Google is working on its own competitor, Bard, but its debut leaves a lot to be desired.

    According to Reuters, Google’s advertisement for Bard includes the following question:

    *”What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can I tell my 9-year old about?”

    Unfortunately, one of Bard’s answers suggests the JWST is responsible for the first photograph of a planet outside our solar system when, in fact, the first such picture was taken in 2004 by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).

    Investors were quick to take note of the mistake, driving Alphabet’s stock down 9% after the news broke. The selloff wiped out at least $100 billion from Alphabet’s value, underscoring the high stakes surrounding AI deployment.

    Google is clearly playing catch-up to Microsoft in the adoption of AI in its search business, and it doesn’t bode well that Bard is getting such a basic question wrong right out of the gate.

  • Microsoft Announces AI-Powered Bing and Edge Web Browser

    Microsoft Announces AI-Powered Bing and Edge Web Browser

    As expected, Microsoft has taken the wraps off of the latest version of Bing, one that relies on artificial intelligence to provide answers.

    Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft has been working to incorporate the technology in its search engine in an effort to challenge Google. Thanks to its multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, Microsoft has access to the company’s tech, providing it with a major opportunity.

    The company unveiled the fruit of its labor today, integrating that AI into both Bing and its Edge web browser.

    Today, we’re launching an all new, AI-powered Bing search engine and Edge browser, available in preview now at Bing.com, to deliver better search, more complete answers, a new chat experience and the ability to generate content. We think of these tools as an AI copilot for the web.

    “AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all – search,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “Today, we’re launching Bing and Edge powered by AI copilot and chat, to help people get more from search and the web.”

    Microsoft confirmed that the AI technology it has incorporated into Bing and Edge is the next generation of OpenAI’s research.

    We’re excited to announce the new Bing is running on a new, next-generation OpenAI large language model that is more powerful than ChatGPT and customized specifically for search. It takes key learnings and advancements from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 – and it is even faster, more accurate and more capable.

    The company also touted its “Prometheus model,” a proprietary way of interacting with the OpenAI model for best results.

    Users can experience the AI-powered Bing today in a limited preview.

    The new Bing is available today in a limited preview on desktop, and everyone can visit Bing.com today to try sample queries and sign up for the waitlist. We’re going to scale the preview to millions in the coming weeks. A mobile experience will also be in preview soon.

  • Sundar Pichai Unveils Google’s ChatGPT Answer: Bard

    Sundar Pichai Unveils Google’s ChatGPT Answer: Bard

    Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has unveiled Bard, Google’s conversational AI and answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

    Pichai previously signaled a company “code red” in response to ChatGPT’s popularity. Executives were so concerned about ChatGPT that founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin came back to help the company come up with an answer.

    In a blog post, Pichai took the wraps off of the company’s efforts:

    It’s a really exciting time to be working on these technologies as we translate deep research and breakthroughs into products that truly help people. That’s the journey we’ve been on with large language models. Two years ago we unveiled next-generation language and conversation capabilities powered by our Language Model for Dialogue Applications (or LaMDA for short).

    We’ve been working on an experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA, that we’re calling Bard. And today, we’re taking another step forward by opening it up to trusted testers ahead of making it more widely available to the public in the coming weeks.

    Pichai touted the many ways Bard can be used:

    Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models. It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses. Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills.

    Pichai also makes clear the company’s intention to aggressively integrate Bard and similar tech into its core search:

    AI can be helpful in these moments, synthesizing insights for questions where there’s no one right answer. Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web: whether that’s seeking out additional perspectives, like blogs from people who play both piano and guitar, or going deeper on a related topic, like steps to get started as a beginner. These new AI features will begin rolling out on Google Search soon.

    With Microsoft planning to unveil ChatGPT-powered Bing search and Google moving forward with Bard, the search industry is on the verge of a major evolution.

  • Bing Upgrading Its Crawl System to Overcome ‘Lastmod’ Issues

    Bing Upgrading Its Crawl System to Overcome ‘Lastmod’ Issues

    Bing is undergoing a major upgrade, revamping its crawl system to overcome issues with how sites use the “lastmod” tag.

    “Lastmod”” is the tag that tells search engines when webpages on a site’s sitemap were last modified. Unfortunately, many sitemaps had the “lastmod” value set to the date when the sitemap was initially set up, not when webpages were last updated.

    According to Search Engine Journal, Bing is working to address the issue:

    To address this issue, Bing is revamping its crawl scheduling stack to better utilize the information provided by the “lastmod” tag in sitemaps.

    This will improve crawl efficiency by reducing unnecessary crawling of unchanged content and prioritizing recently updated content.

    Hopefully Bing’s revamp will help improve search results.

  • Microsoft Will Soon Incorporate a New, Improved ChatGPT in Bing

    Microsoft Will Soon Incorporate a New, Improved ChatGPT in Bing

    Microsoft is moving full speed ahead in its plans to incorporate ChatGPT in Bing, with a new and improved version rolling out in the coming weeks.

    ChatGPT has quickly become the poster child for AI development and has permeated multiple industries. Microsoft is eager to integrate the technology in its Bing search engine in the hopes that conversational AI will help it catch Google.

    According to a new report by Semafor, Microsoft’s plans will come to fruition in the coming weeks, with Bing set to incorporate a new and improved version of ChatGPT based on GTP-4.

    The outlet says that speed is one of the biggest benefits of the move to GPT-4:

    The most interesting improvement in the latest version described by sources is GPT-4’s speed. Right now, it can take a while — sometimes minutes in my experience — for ChatGPT to answer.

    Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI, with its most recent investment coming just last week. At the time of the investment, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella touted the importance of OpenAI’s research.

    “We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” said Nadella. “In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”

    The biggest beneficiary of OpenAI’s development, however, may just be Microsoft itself. Despite being a very capable search engine, Bing has never been able to make much headway against Google’s dominance. Google clearly views the possibility of a ChatGPT-enabled Bing as a threat, with the company calling in founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help it devise an AI strategy.

    If Semafor’s report is correct, we may only have a few weeks to see if ChatGPT upends the search market as much as some believe it will.

  • Google Turns to Larry Page & Sergey Brin to Help With AI Strategy

    Google Turns to Larry Page & Sergey Brin to Help With AI Strategy

    Google has turned to its founders to help it devise an AI strategy as the company faces its biggest challenge yet to its search dominance.

    OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the AI world by storm, with Microsoft working to integrate it with a version of Bing. Google has had to answer some uncomfortable questions about why a startup beat it to market with one of the best conversational AIs to date.

    Evidently, the concerns go more than skin deep, with the company calling in Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help it plot its course forward and come up with a response, according to The New York Times.

    The Times sources say the two founders reviewed the company’s AI strategy, approved ideas for how to integrate AI chat into Google’s search engine, and provided ideas to company leaders on the best way to proceed with AI implementation.

    The fact that Google turned to its founders for help with AI underscores how seriously company execs are viewing the technology in terms of the threat it poses to Google’s core search business.

    “This is a moment of significant vulnerability for Google,” D. Sivakumar, a former Google research director, told the Times. “ChatGPT has put a stake in the ground, saying, ‘Here’s what a compelling new search experience could look like.’”

    Despite the threat, Mr. Sivakumar believes Google could deploy its significant AI tools to counter the threat.

    In the meantime, Microsoft and other rivals have a rare opportunity to use ChatGPT, and similar AI tech, to make headway against Google’s dominance.

  • Microsoft Leveraging ChatGPT to Help Bing Take On Google

    Microsoft Leveraging ChatGPT to Help Bing Take On Google

    Google may be hesitant to deploy a ChatGPT-like version of its search engine, but Microsoft sees it as a way to better compete.

    According to The Information, via Reuters, Microsoft is working with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into a version of Bing in the hopes it will prove a greater challenge to Google’s search dominance. OpenAI and Microsoft have a long history of cooperation and partnership, with Microsoft investing in the AI company and gaining exclusive access to some of its technology.

    Google has already decided to play it much more cautious, calling ChatGPT and similar technologies a “reputational risk.” Given its dominance in the search industry, Google has to be much more careful about the results it provides.

    Read more: How Microsoft Is Outmaneuvering Google

    Microsoft clearly believes being second-place in the industry gives it more room to maneuver and take risks that Google is unwilling to take.

    The company’s approach is not unlike its approach to gaining Netflix as an advertising customer. While Google played it safe, hesitating to commit to Netflix’s needs, Microsoft showed an almost startup-like aggressiveness and willingness to do whatever was needed to secure the contract.

    Should Microsoft’s efforts to integrate ChatGPT into Bing prove successful, it could well be a way for Microsoft to make major headway against Google.

  • France Fines Microsoft $64 Million Over Bing Cookies

    France Fines Microsoft $64 Million Over Bing Cookies

    France has fined Microsoft $64 million (€60 million) over ambiguity regarding how cookies are handled by its Bing search engine.

    Bing is the second-largest search engine behind Google, one that many use specifically to avoid giving Google any more of their data. Despite this, Bing has run afoul of EU data privacy laws by depositing cookies on users’ computers without consent.

    The CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) outlined the nature of the allegations:

    When users visited the search engine “bing.com”, a cookie with several purposes, including the fight against advertising fraud, was automatically deposited on their terminal without any action on their part.

    Furthermore, when they kept browsing the search engine, a cookie with an advertising purpose was placed on their terminal, again without their consent being collected.

    However, the law requires that this type of cookies be deposited only after the users have expressed their consent.

    The CNIL also says Bing did not make it easy to reject cookies:

    While the search engine offered a button to accept cookies immediately, it did not offer an equivalent solution (button to refuse or other) to allow the Internet user to refuse them as easily. Two clicks were needed to refuse all cookies, while only one was needed to accept them.

    If Microsoft does not comply with the CNIL’s ruling by the deadline, the company will be fined “60,000 euros per day overdue.”

  • Microsoft May Build ‘Super App’ to Fight Apple/Google Search Deal

    Microsoft May Build ‘Super App’ to Fight Apple/Google Search Deal

    Microsoft is reportedly looking to build a “super app” in an effort to fight Apple and Google’s search deal and mobile dominance.

    Apple and Google have the two dominant mobile operating systems in iOS and Android. Further extending their mobile domination, the two companies have a search deal worth billions that sees Google as the default search engine on Apple’s devices.

    Microsoft appears ready to tackle Apple and Google’s duopoly, according to AppleInsider, with the company looking to create a mobile app that would combine the company’s various services into a single all-in-one solution. The company is evidently taking inspiration from Tencent’s strategy of creating all-in-one apps that meet a wide array of needs.

    It’s still not certain if Microsoft will proceed with the strategy, but AI reports that CEO Satya Nadella is pushing the company to improve Bing and make it better integrate with the company’s other services as a possible first step toward the “super app.”

  • DuckDuckGo Grew by 46% in 2021, Averaging 100 Million Daily Searches

    DuckDuckGo Grew by 46% in 2021, Averaging 100 Million Daily Searches

    DuckDuckGo is making major headway in the search market, growing by 46% in 2021 and averaging more than 100 million daily searches.

    DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engine that does not track or profile its users, unlike Google or Bing. The company does rely on advertising, but those ads are based solely on the keywords and content of a specific search.

    While the company’s market share pales in comparison to Google, it is solidly in fourth place, behind Google, Bing, and Yahoo. According to Bleeping Computer, DuckDuckGo saw its searches go from 23.6 billion in 2020 to 34.6 billion in 2021. That translates to a daily average in 2021 of 100 million, up from 79 million in 2020.

    Obviously, DuckDuckGo still has a long way to go before it represents any real threat to Google, but the company continues to prove that profits don’t have to come at the expense of user privacy.

  • Bing Adds Local Store Search

    Bing Adds Local Store Search

    Microsoft Bing has added a major new feature, making it possible for users to search local stores.

    Many consumers use search engines to research products and find local places to purchase them. In many cases, consumers will purchase a product online and then pick it up in person.

    Microsoft is looking to help facilitate this by making it possible for consumers to search local stores’ inventory and product availability.

    The company announced the new feature in a blog post.

    You need something from a specific store. Where is the location closest to your home? Are they open? Is your product in stock? Using Microsoft Bing or searching on Bing Maps, you will get rich results that will answer all these questions! 

    For consumers looking to spruce up their homes for the holidays Bing search provides local results for what is needed, as well as inspiration for what is possible. By searching for new table lamps on Bing Maps, results show store stock, expanded views of products at the stores, and even include store reviews. This helpful level of information can motivate and confirm purchase decisions, helping shoppers spend time and money wisely.