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We’ve heard multiple rumors that the innovative AI tool ChatGPT will be wrapped into the Microsoft Bing search engine in the near future, and now we’ve got a leaked preview of how that integration might actually work and show up in your browser.
Student and designer Owen Yin (opens in new tab) (through The edge (opens in new tab)) somehow got access to the upcoming upgrade and was able to test it for a while before being locked out. If you’ve already used ChatGPT, the interface will look familiar: you’ll get an on-screen prompt to ask for information or help with just about anything you want.
You apparently have 1000 characters to work with. An example shown in Yin’s screenshots is searching for art and craft ideas for a toddler using specific materials – that’s the kind of search that ChatGPT excels at, and for which you won’t necessarily get very helpful results via Google.
Bing with added ChatGPT will also tell you where it got its information: you’ll see a list of resources, a bit like Wikipedia, below the comments. That means you can check what ChatGPT says for accuracy, at least to a point.
Bing’s ChatGPT integration just showed up for me. Replaces the search bar with a composer for natural language questions pic.twitter.com/NxZ0k9O92CFebruary 3, 2023
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The conventional search results will not disappear completely, according to this leak. They’re available on a separate screen, and you can switch between an old-fashioned list of blue links and the future of search using the toolbar at the top.
And it really does feel like the default way of searching is really getting a bit old-fashioned now – which is no doubt part of the reason Google is about to unveil its own version of this technology in the coming days. If you’ve done a traditional web search recently, you know that the results you get back aren’t always helpful.
A more conversational approach, such as the one offered by ChatGPT, offers much more precision and customization. For example, you can use the AI engine to write a wedding speech or plan a road trip yourself, refining the results with natural language, rather than just searching online for ideas for speeches or itineraries.
Microsoft is also reportedly looking to add ChatGPT capabilities to its Office suite so you can get help drafting letters, creating PowerPoint slides, and writing emails. In the very near future, we will all rely much more on artificial intelligence.