Microsoft
AI chatbots are everywhere now – from something that only true enthusiasts really knew about or understood, the rise of ChatGPT and others has made them commonplace.
Microsoft made massive waves when it added its own chat system to Bing as part of this wave, with features that put its competitors to shame and ease of access that was really impressive. What is Bing Chat, though, and how does it work? We’ve got all the details here.
What is Bing Chat?
Bing Chat launched in February 2023, a new feature for Bing’s search engine that let you talk to its AI chatbot rather than simply filling out search queries.
The sytem is conversational and basically let Microsoft steal a march on Google, despite the latter’s normally complete dominance of the online search market.
Bing Chat sounds like it’s distinct from ChatGPT, and in practical terms it is, but it’s powered by the same model from OpenAI and therefore operates in much the same way, although we’d say it’s easier to access and use for normal people.
How Bing Chat works
Using Bing Chat is pretty straightforward – you first have to be using Microsoft’s own Edge browser (which will be an annoyance for some given how small a slice of the browser market it owns).
Once you’re using the browser, just follow the steps below and you’ll be using Bing Chat in no time.
- Open Edge
- Click on the Bing icon at the top-right of the screen (a blue “B”)
- At the bottom of the dialogue box that pops out, type your question
- Send your question and wait for a response
After a very short pause Bing Chat will respond to your question with its answer based on web results and its language model, and should give you citations and links to demonstrate what led it to the conclusions it’s presented
You can then ask follow-up questions that can refine your search or delve deeper, and the chatbot will answer with the previous questions in mind.
This is the heart of the Bing Chat experience, and your conversations can get pretty long before you hit the limit of what the AI can remember – you’ll see a character limit in the conversation being reached when you’re nearing this point.
Who can use Bing Chat?
When Microsoft first launched Bing Chat it did so in beta, as is common for big new products like this, meaning that it was only available to a select group of users.
That changed in May 2023, though, when the system became available for all users, with one caveat – you do have to sign in to a Microsoft account to use it.
Is Bing Chat better than ChatGPT?
This is a slightly complicated question given that ChatGPT’s technology (from OpenAI) effectively underpins and powers Bing Chat, but we still feel the answer might just be “yes”.
This is because Bing Chat is so, so much easier to access than most parts of ChatGPT, and its most up-to-date features aren’t locked behind a paywall at all, so you get to use the newest options and features without any real barriers.
The experience you have chatting to each might not feel drastically different all the time, but Bing Chat’s useability and sophistication edges it ahead, too.