Microsoft Enhances Bing Search with AI-Powered Summaries

Microsoft, OpenAI Announce GenAI-Powered Search Tools

In a move that could transform online shopping, Microsoft's Bing fired back at Google this week with its own artificial intelligence (AI)-powered "generative search" feature. And it's not the only one in development. Microsoft's latest gambit involves testing a system that marries conventional search results with AI-powered language models. "This is another important step in evolving the search experience on Bing, and we're eager to get feedback throughout this journey," Microsoft stated in a post on its official blog. As Bing flexes its new AI muscles, industry experts are divided on its potential impact on eCommerce and digital marketing strategies. OpenAI also announced Thursday it is testing "SearchGPT," a prototype AI search feature that could change how ChatGPT accesses and delivers up-to-date information. This move intensifies the AI-powered search race, with Google's SGE and Microsoft's Bing Chat already vying for dominance in the rapidly evolving landscape of generative search technology. Available to only a "small percentage" of users, Bing's generative search is underpinned by a combination of large and small generative AI models. While Microsoft remains tight-lipped about the specific models used, the feature aggregates information from around the web and generates a summary in response to search queries. For instance, a search for "What is a spaghetti western?" will yield a comprehensive summary of the film subgenre's history, origin and top examples, complete with links and sources. Users also have the option to dismiss AI-generated summaries in favor of traditional search results from the same page. The integration of AI into Bing's search results has sparked excitement among some industry leaders. "This isn't just about finding products; it's about discovering the right products that align perfectly with individual preferences and needs," Kristaps Brencans, CEO of digital marketing firm On The Map, told PYMNTS. He envisions a future where complex queries yield highly personalized results. This enthusiasm is echoed by others in the field. "Microsoft is going to turn online shopping upside down with generative search testing for Bing," Kaan Guner, founder of web design company Polar Mass, told PYMNTS. He paints a picture of the enhanced user experience: "Instead of the usual list of links, they get a summary generated by AI that pulls together the features of the product, comparisons and customer reviews -- in as clear and concise a manner as possible." However, skepticism persists among some experts. "I'm pretty skeptical about how Bing's AI-generated search results might change things for online shoppers," cautioned Javier Castaneda, technical SEO analyst and AI expert at the marketing firm Dark Horse. He warned that while finding products might become easier, it could also limit choice if the AI makes too many decisions for users. A more cautious perspective comes from those with experience in large-scale SEO projects. "The main thing to remember is that today's announcement, as far as I know, has focused on informational queries," Bruno Rodriguez, head of organic at marketing firm Orange Line, told PYMNTS. He suggests that Bing's new feature might be more akin to "an AI-generated Wikipedia page summary for these specific queries." For businesses, the shift toward AI-powered search necessitates a dramatic overhaul of digital marketing strategies. Traditional SEO tactics may no longer suffice in this new environment. "It's no longer just about keywords -- we're dealing with a completely different situation now," Castaneda pointed out. The focus is shifting to structured data markup, detailed product information, and user experience signals to optimize visibility in Bing's new AI-powered search results pages. The importance of creating "quality, relevant content" and "clear, engaging product descriptions" cannot be overstated. These elements will likely be featured prominently in Bing's AI results. Additionally, the use of structured data becomes even more critical, as it helps Bing's AI clearly understand and present product details in search results. Some experts predict a shift in marketing tactics. If AI search becomes a dominant form of experiencing the web, brands and retailers might try to influence internet opinion through listicles, rankings and reviews, much like they currently do with link-building. This evolution could particularly impact retailers heavily reliant on affiliate marketing, who may find themselves vulnerable in the new landscape. The potential impact of Bing's AI integration on eCommerce behemoths like Amazon has sparked debate among experts. While some see a real challenge to Amazon's dominance, others are more skeptical. Optimists believe that if Bing can deliver search results more intuitively and efficiently, it might attract shoppers seeking quick answers rather than extensive browsing. This could potentially position Bing as a strong competitor in the shopping space, offering consumers a viable alternative to established market leaders. However, tempering these expectations, some experts point out Amazon's significant head start. "It might make searching for products more streamlined, but Amazon already has a massive head start. They've got the products, the customer base, the whole infrastructure," Castenada noted.

Microsoft introduces gen-AI to Bing search, similar to Google's AI Overviews

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has revealed a new generative artificial intelligence search tool with Bing, which it is currently utilizing on a small percentage of user queries. "By combining the power of generative AI and large language models with the search results page, Bing's generative search creates a bespoke and dynamic response to a user's query," the company said in a blog post published today. Bing's gen-AI appears similar to Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL) AI Overviews, which creates AI-generated summaries in response to Google Search queries. It was released in May. AI Overviews faced some criticism that it might disrupt web traffic, driving down organic visits to publishers, affecting ad revenue. Microsoft acknowledged this possible impact. "We are continuing to look closely at how generative search impacts traffic to publishers," Microsoft said. "Early data indicates that this experience maintains the number of clicks to websites and supports a healthy web ecosystem." Microsoft said it is slowly rolling this new gen-AI search product out, and plans to share more updates in the months ahead. Google continues to dominate the internet search race, accounting for 87% of all searches, according to the most recent data by Statista. Bing ranked second with 8%.

Microsoft debuts AI-powered summaries in Bing search engine - SiliconANGLE

Microsoft debuts AI-powered summaries in Bing search engine Microsoft Corp. has finally unveiled its response to Google LLC's experimental AI-powered search experience, with the limited preview launch of a new feature called Bing Generative Search. The company said the new feature combines the foundation of Bing's search results with the power of large and small language models, known as LLMs and SLMs. In doing so, it can understand the user's search query and review millions of sources of information on the web to provide instant summaries and useful information related to the topic in question. According to Microsoft, Bing Generative Search "dynamically matches content and generates search results in a new, AI-generated layout to fulfill the intent of the user's query more effectively." The launch was announced by Microsoft's Head of Engineering and Product for Copilot and Bing, Jordi Ribas, who explained that it represents a "meaningful step forward" in the evolution of AI-driven search. Bing Generative Search is a direct response to the AI Overviews feature in Google Search that was launched in the U.S. in May. Google said at the time that AI Overviews was all about providing quick answers for users who don't have the time to read through dozens of articles to get the information they need. It attempts to summarize the information the user is looking for, sourcing what it deems to be the most relevant insights from multiple websites. Microsoft's offering does much the same. In his blog post, Ribas offered a couple of examples of how it works. For instance, if a user types "What is a spaghetti western?", Bing will surface information about the film genre's history and origin, and highlight some of the best known films in that category. It will also show a list of links and sources that it obtained the information from. Just as with Google's AI Overviews, users can dismiss the generative AI responses and summaries entirely and instead see a traditional results page. No doubt, Microsoft has taken extra care to try and avoid some of the controversy that followed the debut of Google's AI Overviews, which made headlines for all of the wrong reasons in the days after it came online. The new service was documented as generating a series of nonsensical, inaccurate and sometimes even potentially dangerous responses to user's queries. In one instance, AI Overviews told a user that asked how to prevent the cheese sliding off a homemade pizza to "mix non-toxic glue with the cheese." In another response, when someone asked about the best way to clean their washing machine, AI Overviews spat out a recipe for deadly mustard gas, along with instructions on how to go about making it. Google isn't the only AI search provider that's had facepalm moments, though. For instance, an alternative service called Arc Search made headlines for telling a news reporter with confidence that cut-off toes will eventually grow back, while Genspark happily recommended a list of weapons that can be used to kill someone effectively. Another risk that Microsoft will want to sidestep is the lack of attribution, which befell a rival search engine called Perplexity. According to Forbes, Perplexity plagiarized articles from sites such as Bloomberg, CNBC and Forbes itself in a series of responses, without providing any credit or attribution links. Microsoft will also want to be careful to ensure that its new search experience doesn't put smaller websites out of business. One of the big fears around generative AI search is that they may steal traffic from the websites they obtain their information from. A study by Raptive Inc. earlier this year revealed that Google's AI Overviews feature could negatively impact around 25% of publisher's traffic, because of the way its summaries eliminate the need for users to click through to the actual source articles. Ribas insisted that won't be the case with Bing Generative Search, saying the company is looking closely at how generative AI search affects website traffic. He insisted the new experience has been able to maintain the number of clicks to websites. However, he didn't provide any statistics or studies to back up his claims, instead citing "early data" that the company hasn't yet published.

Microsoft is adding AI-powered summaries to Bing search results

The race to bring more AI features to search is escalating, with Microsoft moving forward with additional tools for Bing. Today, the company began previews for Bing generative search, where the top result for a user's query will be an original response compiled by AI. The about Bing generative search showed a few sample results. In addition to the overview statement, Microsoft will provide links to the main sources that the large-language models and small-language models used to create their answer. It will also have a section of related information. For instance, with the sample query "how long do elephants live," the main summary is followed by videos with information about factors that impact elephant longevity. After the generative results, the usual list of search hits will be displayed. If you're curious and want to try out generative search right away, you may be out of luck. This isn't an opt-in choice yet for Bing users and it is only being applied to "a small percentage of user queries" at this stage. "We are slowly rolling this out and will take our time, garner feedback, test and learn, and work to create a great experience before making this more broadly available," Microsoft said. Google rolled out a similar tool earlier this year called in an effort to retain users who might go directly to an AI chatbot for answers to their questions. AI Overview had , so it will be interesting to see how well Microsoft's counterpart performs in comparison. And while Microsoft did emphasize in the blog post that it developed generative search without the intent of ruining web publishers' business, it's worth repeating that this kind of AI tool is .

Bing previews its answer to Google's AI Overviews | TechCrunch

Microsoft this afternoon previewed its answer to Google's AI-powered search experience: Bing generative search. Available only for a "small percentage" of users at the moment, Bing generative search, powered by a combination of large and small generative AI models (mum's the word on which, exactly), aggregates info from around the web and generates a summary in response to search queries. For example, if a user searches "What is a spaghetti western?," Bing generative search shows information about the subgenre's history and origin and top examples, along with links and sources that show where that information came from. As with Google's comparable AI Overviews feature, there's an option to dismiss AI-generated summaries for traditional search results from the same page. "This is another important step in evolving the search experience on Bing and we're eager to get feedback throughout this journey," Microsoft writes in a post on its official blog. "We are slowly rolling this out and will take our time, garner feedback, test and learn and work to create a great experience before making this more broadly available ... We look forward to sharing more updates in the coming months." Microsoft insists that Bing generative search, which evolves the AI-generated chat answers it launched on Bing in February, "fulfill[s] the intent of the user's query more effectively." But much has been written about AI-generated overviews gone wrong. Google's AI Overviews infamously suggested putting glue on a pizza. Arc Search told one reporter that cut-off toes will eventually grow back. And Perplexity ripped off articles written by outlets including CNBC, Bloomberg and Forbes without giving credit or attribution. AI-generated overviews threaten to cannibalize traffic to the sites from which they source their info. Indeed, they already are, with one study finding that AI Overviews could negatively affect about 25% of publisher traffic due to the de-emphasis of web page links. For its part, Microsoft insists that it's "maintaining the number of clicks to websites" and "look[ing] closely a how generative search impacts traffic to publishers." The company volunteers no stats to back this up, however, alluding only to "early data" that it's choosing to keep private for the time being.

Unlike Google's attempt, Microsoft Bing's new AI-powered search results may actually turn out good

Key Takeaways Google's AI-powered search results fell flat, while Microsoft quietly perfected Bing with new generative AI searches. Microsoft's Bing now uses multiple language models to understand search queries better and generate more effective results. Microsoft's AI-powered Bing aims to provide clear-cut answers and relevant content to users, possibly shining brighter than Google. When Google implemented AI-powered searching into its results, it took the internet by storm. Unfortunately, it was for all the wrong reasons, as Gemini had some hilarious and downright incorrect answers for typical Google searches. However, while people laugh at whatever Gemini is cooking up, Microsoft has been silently working away on Bing to create an AI-powered search that actually works properly. Now, the company is ready to show off more of what it can do in an update to its search engine. Related Microsoft Copilot: What is it, and how does it work? Is Microsoft Copilot the best AI chatbot available right now? Microsoft reveals the new era of AI-powered Bing searches Image Credit: Microsoft As announced on Bing blogs, Microsoft shows off the new generative AI searches, which it states is rolling out to a small number of user queries. In this new form, it appears that Microsoft is using multiple different models instead of relying on just one: This new experience combines the foundation of Bing's search results with the power of large and small language models (LLMs and SLMs). It understands the search query, reviews millions of sources of information, dynamically matches content, and generates search results in a new AI-generated layout to fulfill the intent of the user's query more effectively. The animation above shows an example of what happens when someone asks "What is a spaghetti western?" At the very top appears to be a Copilot-based response, which gives a clear-cut answer as a header and then dives into the cited details in the body. Scrolling past this box gives the user a mix of search results, article snippets, and even a "Best and most influential movies" table to give people a quick run-down of the genre. With people noticing that Google's results have been poor lately, now may be Bing's time to shine - that is, if Microsoft can stop pestering users to use its search engine.