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Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT last fall, Microsoft has become one of the company’s biggest investors. However, instead of investing in the popular artificial intelligence chatbot, Microsoft leveraged these investments into superpowering its own search engine, Bing, with generative AI.
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Instead of being a runner-up search engine to the more popular Google, Bing has become an AI-powered chatbot — though the option to use the traditional search format remains. Users can go to Bing and ask it questions much as they can with ChatGPT, and even upload images and request AI-generated images.
Often referred to as “the new Bing” or “Bing ChatGPT,” Bing Chat differs greatly from its more popular competitor. We’ll explore how to use Bing Chat and the different ways you can access it below.
How to use Bing Chat
What you’ll need: Getting started with the new Bing requires you to use Microsoft Edge. Microsoft used to require an account to access the chat feature, but now you can have shorter conversations without logging in.
Open the Microsoft Edge web browser to access Bing Chat. You can download it for Windows, Mac, and Linux if you don’t have Edge. It’s also available on mobile for Android and iOS.
Once you’ve got Microsoft Edge open, go to Bing.com and you’ll have a couple of options to access Bing Chat. You can either click Chat at the top of the screen, click the Bing logo on the sidebar to the right, or, if available, on Try it or Learn more right below the search bar.
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When you access Microsoft Bing, you can choose whether to use the search or chat formats for your queries.
Bing Chat is always accessible from the Edge sidebar, no matter what website you’re on.
The Bing website will have a “Chat” option on the top left. Edge also has Bing built-in on the sidebar to the right. Screenshot by Maria Diaz/ZDNET
Though you can access the Bing AI chatbot if you’re not logged in to a Microsoft account, you’ll be limited to only five responses per conversation. If you want longer conversations with up to 30 answers from Bing, you’ll need to log into your Microsoft account.
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A Microsoft account could be an outlook.com or hotmail.com email address and password or the login information you use for Microsoft services, such as Office, OneDrive, or Xbox.
You can create a Microsoft account using any email address, Gmail and Yahoo! included.
Any time you perform a Bing search, you can switch to Chat by clicking on the option below the search bar. Screenshot by Maria Diaz/ZDNET
Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing Chat differs slightly from ChatGPT, the most popular AI chatbot. While you enter prompts in the conversations similarly, the format of the answers, the conversational style, and the Bing AI interface are all very different.
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Here’s a breakdown to help you get to know the new Bing Chat window:
- Text area: The bottom of the screen has a text area where you can enter your prompts and questions for Bing Chat.
- Add an image: Microsoft recently added the ability for users to upload a photo for Bing to process using AI, much like Google Lens works. Clicking on this button lets you add an image.
- Talk to Bing: If you’d rather use your device’s microphone instead of your keyboard to give Bing your prompts, you can select the microphone in the text area to talk to the AI chatbot.
- New topic: When you click on New topic, Bing will delete the previous conversation and prompt you to move on to a new one.
- Sources: Bing performs as a conversational AI-powered search engine, and though it does not give you answers in a list format as a search engine would, it does gather most of its responses from the web. When you get a reply to a prompt, Bing also will list any sources and links below the message bubble.
- Suggested follow-up questions: After you get a response from Microsoft Bing, it will generate suggestions for different follow-up questions that you can use. For example, if you ask Bing, “What color is the sky?” it may suggest the follow-up questions, “Is the sky blue on other planets?” or “How does pollution affect the color of the sky?”
- Search or chat: The top left of the screen allows you to toggle between traditional search results or the AI chatbot. Click on one or the other to switch.
- Conversation style: Bing Chat is programmed to provide a more human-like answer to a query than a search engine, so it offers three formats for responses — more creative, more balanced, and more precise. Each one of these formats is self-descriptive: Choosing “more creative” will give you answers that are original and imaginative, and it can also generate images; “more balanced” is similar in tone to ChatGPT, an informative and friendly chat with a human-like answer; and “more precise” will render concise and straightforward responses.
- Prompt counter: When Bing responds to a query within a conversation, you’ll see a number that helps you keep count of how many responses you’ve received. There’s a limit of 30 replies per conversation.
- Feedback button: When scanning the screen, you’ll quickly notice a Feedback button on the bottom-right corner of the chat window. This button lets users provide feedback to Microsoft Bing on suggestions or things they like or dislike, with the option to include a screenshot.
- Microsoft account: Your account information is accessible on the top right of the screen.
You can see that Bing offers many different options to optimize the conversation. Screenshot by Maria Diaz/ZDNET
FAQs
What can Bing Chat do?
Like ChatGPT, the new AI-powered Bing can generate text conversationally, compose essays, create letters, summarize content, write code, and answer complex questions. But unlike ChatGPT, Bing Chat has internet access, allowing it to provide up-to-date responses on current events.
The free version of ChatGPT, on the other hand, is only trained on data up to the year 2021, so it cannot provide answers related to more recent events and developments. This means that Bing can give you answers about events that happened yesterday, whereas ChatGPT wouldn’t know about something that happened last year.
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Aside from internet access, Bing can also use AI to generate images within the chat window. All you have to do is ask it to create an image and describe what you’d like the photo to have, and it’ll generate an image right away. It can also process images you upload in the chat to tell you information about them, like identifying plant species.
How can I access Bing Chat?
There are a few ways to access Bing Chat quickly:
- The Microsoft Edge browser has easy access to the new Bing Chat on the sidebar to the right-hand side of the window.
- Users can go to the Bing homepage by going to Bing.com to chat with the new Bing AI chatbot.
- Downloading the mobile app version of Bing on your device.
- You can also use Bing on mobile through the Edge browser.
Is Bing Chat available on Chrome?
Bing Chat is only available on Microsoft Edge at this time. Certain third-party extensions to access the new Bing through Google Chrome have yet to be backed by Microsoft officially.
Can you use the new Bing on mobile?
If you have the Edge browser on your mobile device, you can use the new AI-powered Bing search in chat mode, much like you would on your computer. There’s also the option of skipping the Edge browser and downloading the Microsoft Bing app from your device’s app store.
This app provides a straight line to the Bing AI chatbot, with the benefit of not having to access a website when you want to use it and widgets you can add to your phone’s home screen.
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The Microsoft Bing app and the Edge browser support voice dictation on mobile, so you can ask questions without typing them in.
Does Bing use ChatGPT?
Bing does not use ChatGPT, but it does use GPT-4 to have conversations with its users. The new Bing is the only way to use GPT-4 for free at this time, and Microsoft claims the integration with the latest language model makes Bing more powerful and accurate than ChatGPT.
The GPT 3.5 version of OpenAI’s language model powers ChatGPT. When GPT-4 became widely available through an updated version of ChatGPT, it was through OpenAI’s subscription service, ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 monthly.
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GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest large language model, is available through a monthly subscription or Bing Chat. The latter uses GPT-4 and performs more like an AI-powered search engine in a conversational format than ChatGPT.
Does Bing Chat give wrong answers?
Just like ChatGPT and other large language models, the new AI-powered Bing Chat is prone to giving out misinformation. Most of the output Bing offers as answers are drawn from online sources, and we know we can’t believe everything we read online.
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Similarly, using the new Bing in chat mode can generate nonsensical answers unrelated to the original question, also known as hallucinations. It’s important to take precautions when having conversations with AI chatbots, like never sharing your personal and private information and never relying on it for medical or life-threatening information.
Is Bing Chat available now?
The new AI-powered Bing Chat was only available on a waitlist basis since its launch earlier this year. Microsoft granted widespread access to all Microsoft Edge users some time ago, with or without a valid account.
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The new Bing Chat is on an Open Preview, so users can try it by going to the Edge web browser or using the Bing mobile app.
How is Bing Chat different from a search engine?
Compared to a search engine, the biggest difference between Bing Chat and other AI chatbots is the conversational tone in rendering search results, thanks to the large language model operating behind the scenes. Intelligently formatting search results into an answer to a specific question makes it easier for anyone looking to find something online.
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Beyond search capabilities that the standard Bing search engine already has, Bing Chat is a fully-fledged AI chatbot and can do many things similar tools can, such as ChatGPT. Both Bing and ChatGPT, for example, can generate text, such as an essay or a poem, write code, or ask complex questions and hold a conversation with follow-up questions.
Is there a Bing image creator?
Microsoft also debuted Bing Image Creator as part of its generative AI tools. It’s accessible through Bing Chat or on its own by going to Bing.com/Create.
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Microsoft is using DALL-E, an artificially intelligent image generator from OpenAI. This is available as a tool for Microsoft Edge within Bing, as users can give Bing a prompt to create images within an existing chat instead of going to a separate website.
Is Bing Chat free?
The new Bing is not only completely free but also the best way to preview GPT-4 for free right now. You can use the Bing AI chatbot to ask questions, get help with a problem, or seek inspiration, but you are limited to 300 queries per interaction.
Are my conversations with Bing Chat saved?
Microsoft added chat history to Bing Chat through a recent series of updates. It’s now accessible on the right-hand side of the chat window.
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If you’re using Bing Chat with your Microsoft account, search history is saved in the account, depending on your settings, so that previous prompts may be saved.
Is there a waitlist for the new Bing?
Microsoft recently announced that the new, AI-powered Bing is in Open Preview, so any user that signs in to their Microsoft account using Edge is granted access immediately. The waitlist for early access to this new version of Bing is open to everyone.
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