Microsoft’s Bing search engine is now displaying rich AI-generated information boxes in response to select search queries. This move follows Google’s recent backtrack on AI-generated search overviews. Bing’s AI summaries, introduced in 2023, have not faced much controversy since their debut.
In a new update, Bing search pages will feature a split view with traditional web results on the right and AI-powered information boxes on the left. Only a small percentage of user queries will trigger Bing’s new generative search experience, as mentioned in Microsoft’s announcement post.
Bing was the first to embed AI responses directly within search pages last year, following Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. This approach was better received than Google’s attempt, as Bing’s AI summaries provide inline links to sources and citations, resembling Wikipedia.
Despite the shift towards generative AI in search results, Microsoft assures that it will not negatively impact website traffic or publisher revenue. The new AI section in Bingretains clickable links to independent sources. However, some concerns have been raised about the preference for just the top search result in the updated design.
Overall, the quality of Bing’s AI-generated summaries has been praised for their helpful and well-rounded information. While some web publishers may oppose this shift, the evolution towards AI-driven search engines has been ongoing for years. Startups like Perplexity are also making waves in the search engine landscape, challenging the dominance of Microsoft and Google.
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