Microsoft is testing an AI search feature powered by its Copilot AI software on Bing to rival ChatGPT’s role in web search.
The company confirmed on 24 February that this is part of efforts to bridge the gap between “traditional search” and “Copilot answers” to take on OpenAI’s generative chatbot which recently began to compete with mainstream search engines.
Making web search easier
The new feature will bring a result summary to Bing that replaces blue links which users have to click on and read.
Rather than follow links leading to individual websites to get more information, the AI search mode will offer users a summary of the information they need, which saves time and energy in surfing the web.
ChatGPT already offers this with its web search feature, which has drawn most internet users as AI search seems easier and richer to use.
This is the motivation behind the proposed new feature. According to a Microsoft official:
“We’re continuing to experiment and iterate with generative search, which we began rolling out last year. At this point, we don’t have anything further to share.”
Although there’s already Copilot integration on Bing, sources familiar with the development said Microsoft is building a native “AI interface” that integrates AI into the search results page.
The feature will summarize everything it finds on the website instead of blue links, and provide citations at the bottom of the answers under the “sources” section, with some answers will also have links to the websites.
A long journey
ChatGPT was rolled out initially as a generative AI chatbot to help users answer simple questions.
Eventually, it was armed with a web search feature that rivalled Google and other mainstream search engines.
This is probably why Google is already exploring its own AI search feature after introducing AI Overview in its search results, probably as a testing ground.
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