Microsoft's version of ChatGPT starts a new era of search engines
ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, has successfully sparked a global wave of AI chatbots, attracting many technology
companies to join the fray. In February of this year, Microsoft also introduced ChatGPT technology for its search
engine Bing and browser Edge, creating a more diverse user experience.
Currently, people around the world search an average of 10 billion times a day, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
estimates that half of those searches do not obtain answers that meet actual needs. Traditional search engines,
which were only used to search websites, are no longer sufficient for more complex problems or tasks. Microsoft's
introduction of AI-supported search engine Bing and browser Edge not only helps people obtain more answers from
internet searches, but also heralds the arrival of a new era for search engines.
Bing Chat composes in Three Different Writing styles
According to the UN Global Compact, environmental
issThe new version of Bing has added a new feature
called Bing Chat, which uses OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 to
search in a conversational style and provides
conversational answers with annotations that can
effectively trace the source of information. Unlike
ChatGPT, Bing Chat has internet connectivity, enabling
it to provide more immediate answers. Moreover,
users can choose among three different styles -
"precise," "balanced," or "creative" - and receive
different responses depending on their choice.
Chinese netizens have used the "creative" style to
write essays on this year's Chinese college entrance
exam topic "A Good Story," and found that the
"creative" content had more tone and emotion, making
it more like a real human. The "balanced" mode was
more impersonal, lacking emotion and tone, while the
"precise" mode had no emotive language at all, aiming
to improve dialogue efficiency and resolve problems
quickly. Different styles can directly affect the content
and expression of an article, so users can choose the
appropriate style based on their preferences and
needs. It is worth mentioning that the "creative" style
also has a "celebrity mode" that can imitate the
writing style or tone of a celebrity. For example, after
entering "celebrity mode Xu Zhimo," AI will turn into
the writer Xu Zhimo and write prose or even poetry in
his style.
AI Creates New Business
Opportunities for Microsoft
Bing Chat not only injects new features into the search
engine, but also creates new business opportunities for
Microsoft. According to data from application research
company Data.ai, since Microsoft's search engine Bing
introduced ChatGPT technology and opened up with a
new image to the world on February 7th this year, Bing App's global downloads have increased by up to 7
times, while Google App's dSwnloads have decreased
by 2%. Although Google Chrome has always had a large
market share over Microsoft's Edge, data analysis
company Similarweb's data shows that New Bing's
browsing volume has increased by 15.8% in the first
one and a half months after its launch, while Google's
browsing volume has dropped by nearly 1%. Although
this does not necessarily mean that Microsoft will catch
up with or even surpass Google's market share soon, it
does bring some tangible benefits to Bing and
Microsoft. According to The New York Times, Samsung
is considering removing Google as the default search
engine, which could cost Google up to $3 billion in
search revenue per year. Recently, Samsung's
cooperation with Microsoft in the Android field has
become increasingly close. For example, Samsung
phones have pre-installed multiple Microsoft
applications, and OneDrive has become the default
program for its device backup. In addition, Microsoft
has announced that it will place ads on Bing Chat in the
future to increase revenue. If the plan is implemented,
with one-third of the new users in Bing Chat's current
daily active population calculated, their traffic is quite
substantial and will be an important source of revenue
for Microsoft. However, foreign media “TechCrunch”
questioned Microsoft's disruptive advertising
presentation, which will make it difficult for users to
judge the authenticity of Bing Chat's responses, leading
to significant changes in consumers' future shopping
behaviour. However, Microsoft has stated that the plan
to add advertising to Bing Chat is still in the testing
phase and may be adjusted in the future.
Although Bing Chat has frequently "misspoke" during
its initial launch, even developing a second personality
named "Sydney," which raises concerns about hidden
threats to users, like any new technology, it has many
shortcomings at the outset. As long as it is continuously
corrected and updated, the benefits of new technology
are sure to outweigh the harms.
