Microsoft's Bing search engine is set to receive a significant upgrade with the integration of OpenAI's ChatGPT technology. The update is expected to be rolled out by the end of March, and aims to give Microsoft a competitive edge over its main search rival, Google.
The integration of ChatGPT will enable Bing to answer search queries with complete sentences, rather than just providing a list of links. This marks a significant step forward in the development of search engines, which have traditionally focused on providing users with lists of relevant websites.
The partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI dates back to 2019, when Microsoft made a $1 billion investment in the artificial intelligence company. Since then, the two firms have been working on integrating GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) into Bing, with the aim of improving the user experience.
OpenAI released GPT-3 in 2021, and used an updated version, GPT-3.5, in the ChatGPT tool. The company has also indicated that it is working on an even more advanced version, GPT-4, although it has not specified a release date.
Microsoft is already using OpenAI's cloud services in a number of tools, including ones that allow users to create text, code, and imagery using simple instructions, and to train machine-learning models using internet data. Some of Microsoft's enterprise customer apps have also been integrated with OpenAI's technologies.
In June 2022, Microsoft launched Copilot, a subscription service that utilizes OpenAI's tools to assist software engineers in automatically generating code. The next phase of the partnership between the two companies appears to be the integration of ChatGPT into Bing, which raises some concerns given the potential for errors or offensive content.
Google has so far been hesitant to introduce a chatbot like ChatGPT, and it remains to be seen how Microsoft will address these issues and protect consumer trust and reputation. Microsoft has not yet commented on these concerns.
It is worth noting that OpenAI plans to charge for ChatGPT in the future, similar to the fees it charges programmers who use GPT to create text-generating bots. This means that Bing could become one of the few free access points to GPT.
Overall, the integration of ChatGPT into Bing is a significant development for both Microsoft and the search industry as a whole. By enabling search engines to provide more complete and accurate responses to user queries, it has the potential to revolutionize the way we access information online.