Despite rising concerns around misinformation, and various confusing exchanges with the AI system, Microsoft is pushing ahead with its ChatGPT integration, with the launch of new versions of Bing, Edge and Skype which all include elements of ChatGPT, expanding access to the new generative AI process.
As per Microsoft:
“Two weeks ago, we introduced the world to the all new AI-powered Bing and Microsoft Edge – your copilot for the web. Since then, based on strong and positive product feedback and engagement, we’ve welcomed more than one million people in 169 countries off the waitlist into the preview. We continue to expand the preview to more people every day. Our preview community is actively using the breadth of new features across Search, Answers, Chat and Creation with total engagement up significantly. Feedback on the new capabilities is positive, with 71% of testers giving the new Bing a “thumbs up” on the new search and answers capabilities.”
With Bing getting the most attention it’s gotten in years, Microsoft is jumping on the opportunity, with the launch of new Bing and Edge mobile apps, including AI intregration.
“Available on iOS and Android today, the Bing mobile app offers a fresh look and experience. Tapping the Bing icon at the bottom will invoke a chat session, where you can engage in all the same ways you can from the desktop. Ask simple or complex questions and receive answers and citations. Choose how you want your answers displayed – bullet points, text or simplified responses. Explore the Bing chat experience to refine your query or compose an email, poem or list.”
Microsoft is also adding AI-powered Bing for Skype, providing another way to access its new AI features, as it looks to quickly iterate on the option.
Is that a good thing?
Many experts have voiced concerns with the initial roll out of ChatGPT, and the expanded use of AI tools like this, at least until we fully understand the implications of such. Some of those concerns feel like doomsday scenarios, where AI will become sentient and take over humanity, but in most cases, the issues lie in the fact that we don’t know what will happen once these tools are fully available, and how that will impact broader information flow and understanding.
If AI tools are spreading misinformation, and that misinformation is then repeated, what if the AI models are then re-learning based on flawed examples, exacerbating the problem?
There are also concerns related to the types of information that these tools can present, like conspiracy theories displayed as fact. There are various edges that the system can fall off, and it seems, at this stage, that we don’t really understand what the impacts might be on a broad scale.
But as Microsoft notes, interest is high, and now is the time to capitalize, and pressure Google on the search front.
Will that lead to a better online experience? Maybe, probably – we really don’t know, and we won’t know for some time yet.
Which seems risky, but evidently, it’s happening, and you’ll now have more ways to access and utilize these new tools within your day-to-day process.
It’s a key area worth watching, especially for those looking to understand key usage trends, and their impacts on attention.
Those who are currently able to access the Bing preview will be able to use these new tools from today. You can sign up for the Bing preview here.