Microsoft says Bing has passed 100 million users for the first time, thanks to its chatbot...

[midian182]

In brief: The Bing search engine has long been the punchline of many jokes, but thanks to the launch of its chatbot AI, Microsoft's product might not be a laughing stock for much longer. According to the Redmond giant, Bing now has over 100 million daily active users for the first time in its history.

It's been just over a month since Microsoft announced its new Bing engine powered by a version of the same AI behind ChatGPT. The updated version is able to provide more relevant results, summarize them from multiple sources, and refine answers, among many other things.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's VP for Modern Life, Search and Devices, writes that thanks to a boost in numbers stemming from the new chatbot, Bing has passed 100 million daily active users for the first time, one-third of whom are new to Bing.

"We see this appeal of the new Bing as a validation of our view that search is due for a reinvention and of the unique value proposition of combining Search + Answers + Chat + Creation in one experience," Mehdi wrote.

In addition to the extra daily users, Bing is seeing its engagement grow as more people conduct daily searches. Microsoft says there are two factors responsible for this uptick. The first is the increasing number of people using Edge. Like Bing, the browser was mercilessly mocked for a long time after launch, but that started to change when it switched to the Chromium-based version. Mehdi expects the new Bing and Edge AI features to bring even more users to its browser.

The second factor is believed to be the introduction of the Prometheus AI model, which Mehdi says has improved the quality of Bing's search results.

Bing's chat AI is proving to be popular. Around one-third of the search engine's daily preview users are using Chat every day. Microsoft is seeing roughly three chats per session, with more than 45 million total chats taking place since the preview began. Moreover, 15% of all Bing Chat sessions involve people using the AI to generate new content.

The new Bing Mobile app has also increased the search engine's user numbers, with six times more daily active users compared to pre-launch levels.

Mehdi admits that Bing is still a small, low, single-digit-share player in the search engine market. According to Statista, it has an 8.85% share of the global desktop market compared to Chrome's nearly 85%. But the Microsoft exec says it still feels "good to be at the dance." But will Google's own Chat AI, Bard, spoil the party when it arrives? That might depend on how much Google improves its performance; Bard gave inaccurate answers during its first demo last month.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97872-microsoft-bing-has-passed-100-million-users-first.html

 

[ScottSoapbox]

“According to Statista, it [Bing] has an 8.85% share of the global desktop market compared to Chrome's nearly 85%“

I believe you mean Google (search) rather than Chrome.

 

[wiyosaya]

As I see it, this is likely just the bubble of the AI fad. M$ should enjoy it while it lasts, however, I don't think it is going to last given the good and bad about AI. IMO, AI is nowhere near the level of Gideon in The Flash, for instance, yet it seems that people think it is.

 

[sorten]

They caught Google napping, for sure. 9% is a small slice, but that's the financial engine that keeps Google running. It's just a side gig for Microsoft.

Chomsky wrote an interesting article on NYT about the shortcomings of the generative AI being used in the latest chat bots. They're still interesting, if limited.

 

[wiyosaya]

Interesting article on the subject - https://techxplore.com/news/2023-03-indirect-prompt-upend-chatbots.html
Users beware!

 

[GeforcerFX]

I am just the weird guy that was using Bing this whole time anyways , been nice over the years, think I am close to $200 in giftcards I have gotten through the rewards system built into it. Alos really like Bings image search a lot more than googles, and the general UI layout has usually been nicer, they also pick some really decent homepage pictures day to day.

 

[wiyosaya]

I am just the weird guy that was using Bing this whole time anyways , been nice over the years, think I am close to $200 in giftcards I have gotten through the rewards system built into it. Alos really like Bings image search a lot more than googles, and the general UI layout has usually been nicer, they also pick some really decent homepage pictures day to day.

FWIW -

Actually, I have been using Bing since it first hit the internet back in 2009, and have gotten several hundred dollars in rewards. In general, I think the quality of search results has gone down since then, but I still find it mostly meets my search needs. I also like the Bing picture of the day.

My qualm is not with Bing, per se, it is with the fad-like adoption of AI into the internet just of the sake of beating the competition to market. (I have some second-hand info that confirms what I just said, but I'm not willing to divulge my source.) In other words, just for the sake of profit. I do not agree with that approach.

While there are those out there that will use it, and are using it, for "good" purposes, there are also those out there that will use it, and are using it, for "bad" purposes. Already, M$ has had to restrain it because of its responses in certain situations. There are already hackers (who might not otherwise be hackers because of lack of skills, IMO) are already using AI to write malware. And if you go to the link in my previous post in this thread, there are other exploits being discovered, too, that could turn these uses of AI into bots that harvest information about users that could be used for identity theft without the "victim" knowing that it is happening.

I have long been someone who thinks that just because you can do something does not mean you should do something, and as a software engineer, I know, from first-hand experience, that people use software in ways that were never intended.

Even a few days ago on TS - the link escapes me - there was an article suggesting that AI bots could be used to craft your resume and cover letter for every single job you are interested in - which I find similar to the concept of those in school using AI to write essays and do their homework. Unfortunately, I think this is encouraging people to be fraudsters, and I am betting that such people will be found out with the consequences being that they may damage their reputations for life severely impacting their ability to find jobs and otherwise get through life to the best of their abilities. To take that a bit further, such people may have no ability, and these AI bots do not encourage such people to develop their abilities. Surely, they will be in situations where they are unable to access AI and they will have to prove themselves, and may not, and will not, be able to do so.

I think that at the present time, it is far too early in the life of AI for it to be released into the wild, and I am betting that sometime down the road people will figure out that it is not as great as some believe it to be. I have little doubt that people will find it yet another failed experiment in capitalism.