Microsoft is reportedly planning to incorporate ChatGPT into its Bing search service, a move geared toward wrestling more shares of web queries from rival Google.
The Information reports that Microsoft plans to introduce the new feature by the end of first quarter 2023. The move will create a new path for web search results, changing the link-based answers that both Bing and Google have been serving.
ChatGPT, which is designed by OpenAI, has become popular among internet users since it was launched last year, due to its ability to add context to queries. It uses GPT-3.5, a large language model released last year, to generate answers and authentic-looking responses to queries about all topics. With the GPT-3.5-powered ability, ChatGPT helps users to accomplish tasks such as creating poems, composing college essays and writing code.
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Bing believes that using the technology behind it, its search results will provide more humanlike answers to users. Microsoft is now betting on it to win over search users.
The Verge noted that Microsoft’s use of ChatGPT-like functionality could help Bing rival Google’s Knowledge Graph, a knowledge base that Google uses to serve up instant answers that are regularly updated from crawling the web and user feedback.
The swift rise of ChatGPT to the spotlight has, however, rattled Google. Last week, CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly issued ‘code red’ to employees, tasking them to develop a response to the potential threat from ChatGPT to its search-based ad business.
But besides its marvelous ability to create contextual answers to queries, the authenticity of ChatGPT responses is under serious question. The AI has been noted to have major flaws such as racial biases and inability to distinguish between false and true information. It is said to have a tendency to present incorrect information as true fact.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the system cannot be trusted to provide accurate information for now. “It’s a mistake to be relying on [ChatGPT] for anything important right now,” he said in a tweet.
It is not clear how Microsoft plans to integrate the technology. A person familiar with the matter said the Washington-based company may roll out the additional feature in the next several months, but it is still weighing both the chatbot’s accuracy and how quickly it can be included in the search engine.
However, while the ChatGPT wave sweeps across the web, threatening Google’s dominance, the search giant has said it won’t immediately launch its own AI-powered search feature. Google reportedly cited “reputational risk”, bias and factuality issues with AI chatbots as reasons any change to its existing search technology will have to wait.
Microsoft has been betting big on chat-based interfaces. In 2019, the company invested $1 billion in OpenAI, and has an exclusive license to use its text generator AI GPT-3. ChatGPT appears to have opened up the opportunity for Microsoft to expand the idea. The person familiar with the matter said the initial release may be a limited test to a narrow group of users.