Microsoft has a new version of Bing in test powered by OpenAI’s GPT artificial intelligence. However, the answers offered by Bing are very different from those of ChatGPT. It is important to understand the major differences between the two tools.
The new Bing // Source: Microsoft
Microsoft offers interested parties to test the new version of Bing on a simple registration. We now have access to it and have started asking him questions to test the new search engine.
We quickly noticed big differences with the ChatGPT answers. However, the engine has often been presented as a simple integration of ChatGPT. How to explain these differences? Microsoft did not just integrate the OpenAI tool.
How Microsoft created the new Bing
Here is brick by brick what constitutes the new version of Bing.
The 4 pillars of the new Bing: GPT, the Prometheus model, enhanced indexing and, more anecdotally, a dedicated interface.
The OpenAI engine and a new version of GPT
Underpinning the new system is a next-generation language model. ChatGPT is based on GPT-3.5, but the model used by Bing is “much much more powerful” according to the firm. Microsoft has invested heavily in OpenAI and it is a preferred partner of the startup. This model would have been optimized for research in particular.
The Prometheus model
Beyond this language model, there is the “Prometheus Model”, a set of proprietary technologies and techniques developed by Microsoft. It’s about interrogating the OpenAI model in a smarter way, both during the AI training phase and during its execution.
It is to this brick that Microsoft begins to infuse the indexing of the web operated by Bing. This would allow the system to be more accurate and reliable, but also to annotate responses and provide users with sources.
It is also thanks to the Prometheus model that Microsoft can keep its AI up to date with the most recent data from the web. This results in replies sometimes annotated by very recent tweets or articles.
Improved indexing
Without going into details, Microsoft explains that it applied the Artificial Intelligence data model to the Bing index to improve the relevance of search results. According to the firm, this is the biggest improvement in web search relevance in two decades.
Does it work ? Our test
We wanted to put the new Bing to the test to verify Microsoft’s claims and in particular compare the answers with ChatGPT. If it was a simple integration of the latter, the answers should be very close if not identical.
To illustrate the limits of ChatGPT, Marie Turcan published an article on January 31 where Numerama launched the query “Name 5 women who have been Prime Ministers in France”. This is a trick request since only two women have been Prime Ministers in the history of France.
The question posed to ChatGPT // Source: Numerama
Bing’s answer // Source: Aroged
This is a historical question on which ChatGPT completely failed when Bing’s conversational AI was able to detect the trap and answer correctly, with the right sources. This simple test already demonstrates the difference between the OpenAI tool and that of Microsoft.
Bing is still limited
However, it remains very easy to fault Microsoft Bing today. Microsoft’s AI is able to affirm false things with confidence, despite questioning the user. We were able to see this with several requests from us on personalities and this is also what Nicolas Lellouche was able to note in his tests.
Bing asserts false things with aplomb // Source: Aroged
Let’s hope that Microsoft will come quickly to make corrections to the systems of the new Bing. In the current state, if the progress against ChatGPT is significant, the firm also exposes its service much more to the general public. Where ChatGPT is a service in beta with a limited audience (100 million users worldwide all the same) where the user quickly wants to understand that he should not rely on AI answers, Microsoft Bing presents itself as a reliable tool.
In this article, we have focused on Microsoft’s solution, but be aware that the competition is also preparing like Google Bard.
Want to join a community of enthusiasts? Our Discord welcomes you, it’s a place of mutual aid and passion around tech.
