Microsoft has just announced the opening to the public of its artificial intelligence chatbot Bing Chat, integrated into the eponymous search engine, as well as new features. Useful additions that make this conversational AI even more interesting compared to ChatGPT.
Bing Chat is now accessible without having to join a waiting list. // Source: Microsoft
Microsoft continues to rely on its in-house AI. The American multinational has just announced several new features for its artificial intelligence chatbot Bing Chat, in a post published on May 4, 2023 on its official blog. With, as the main announcement, the opening of this service to the public, without a waiting list.
Born from the merger of the ChatGPT chatbot into Microsoft’s Bing search engine in February 2023, Bing Chat offers much the same functionality as OpenAI’s tool while citing its sources and offering a more accessible interface for beginners. Note that it uses GPT-4 in a version tailored to Microsoft’s needs. But with this latest update, the chatbot made in Microsoft should stand out even more from its twin.
Make Bing Chat easier and more accessible
Many new features seek to make Bing Chat ever easier to use. This is the case of adding a chat history: you can now find a trace of your previous conversations with Bing Chat. If this option is for the moment limited to this use, Microsoft specifies that it wishes in terms that new conversations with Bing Chat can be based on this history to provide more personalized answers.
Source : Microsoft via Windows Central
Another useful addition: the ability to export and share part of your conversations with the chatbot. Even if nothing prevented copying and pasting the chatbot’s answers, this option seeks to simplify sharing on social networks and other platforms.
Microsoft has also sought to improve the responses of its conversational AI, offering new visual responses via graphs or curves, and a better ability to analyze and summarize long PDF documents or web pages.
An illustration of the new features of Bing Chat // Source: Microsoft
Bing Chat is also opening up to a wider audience. Bing Image Creator, Microsoft’s AI image generation tool similar to (and powered by) Dall-E, now supports over 100 different languages, including French.
Likewise, Bing Chat now accepts third-party plugins: developers will be able to create their own add-on programs for Bing Chat. Microsoft cites in particular two plugins already available on ChatGPT: OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha. OpenTable integration allows the chatbot to reserve tables or the addition of Wolfram Alpha to provide detailed answers to questions on scientific topics.
A chatbot that still prefers Edge
This festival of announcements is completed by additions for better integration of Bing Chat in Microsoft’s Edge browser. If a button already allows access to the service without leaving its web page, clicking on a link sent by Bing Chat will now open the page in a dedicated side pane.
A link opened in Bing Chat on Edge will open in a side pane // Source: Microsoft via Windows Central
Another improvement: the possibility of asking Bing Chat to program actions in the browser. Microsoft says for example that it will be possible to ask him to reserve a table in a restaurant. In the future, this chatbot window for Edge should even allow you to select the general tone of Bing Chat responses.
Finally, as stated at the beginning of the article, Bing Chat is going through “open preview”, removing the mandatory waiting list registration and letting anyone test the service after signing in to a Microsoft account…but only if you’re currently using the Edge browser. Microsoft will play its advantage until the end to make you love its browser.
As a reminder, to take advantage of Bing Chat, all you need is a Microsoft account and access the service from the Bing site with the Microsoft Edge browser or via the mobile application.
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