- On February 7, Microsoft unveiled a wholly revamped Bing search engine and Edge browser to “provide better search, more comprehensive answers, a new chat experience, and the capacity to produce content.”
- According to Microsoft, this tool excels at dealing with more complex problems, whereas standard search engines are great for finding websites.
- Bing will now be able to handle more complicated questions such as “my anniversary is coming up in September, help me plan a trip somewhere fun in Europe, leaving from London”.
To provide “better search, more complete answers, a new chat experience, and the capacity to develop content,” Microsoft released an entirely new Bing search engine and Edge browser on February 7. Microsoft views these resources as an “AI copilot” for the internet. Microsoft says this tool shines when dealing with more challenging issues, whereas the usual search engines are excellent for discovering websites.
Reinventing search
The new Bing and Edge deliver:
- Better search. The new Bing gives an improved version of the familiar search experience, providing more relevant results for simple things like sports scores, stock prices, and weather, along with a new sidebar that shows more comprehensive answers.
- Complete answers. Bing reviews results from across the web to find and summarize the answer you’re looking for. For example, users can get detailed instructions for substituting eggs for another ingredient in a cake they are baking right then without scrolling through multiple results.
- A new chat experience. For more complex searches – such as planning a detailed trip itinerary or researching what TV to buy – the new Bing offers new, interactive chat.
- A creative spark. The new Bing can generate content to help. It can help write an email and create a 5-day itinerary for a dream vacation to Hawaii, with links to book your travel. The new Bing also cites all its sources, so users can see links to the web content it references.
- New Microsoft Edge experience. The updated Edge browser with new AI capabilities and a new look with two new functionalities: Chat and compose. With the Edge Sidebar, you can ask for a summary of a lengthy financial report to get the key takeaways – and then use the chat function to compare a competing company’s financials and automatically put it in a table. You can also ask Edge to help you compose content, such as a LinkedIn post, by giving it a few prompts to get you started. After that, you can ask it to help you update the post’s tone, format, and length. Edge can understand the web page you’re on and adapts accordingly.
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, said:
« “AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all – search. Today, we’re launching Bing and Edge powered by AI copilot and chat, to help people get more from search and the web.” »
You can ask the new Bing things such as:
“My anniversary is coming in September; help me plan a fun trip somewhere in Europe, leaving from London.” or “Will the Ikea Klippan loveseat fit into my 2019 Honda Odyssey?”
Microsoft reports that the new Bing is available today in a limited preview on desktop, and everyone can visit Bing.com today to try sample queries and sign up for the waitlist.
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