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Bing Chat, the ChatGPT-infused search engine preview that’s all the rage is now on your iPhone and Android phones, where I found it to be just as wild an experience as it was on the desktop.
Actually, it’s wilder. Unlike the desktop, mobile ChatGPT Bing has the added special ingredient of a voice. That’s right, Bing appeals to you. There’s some irony here that the most interesting thing Microsoft has done in years is also taking a moment to reflect on the company’s latest Quixote foray into voice-activated assistants: Cortana.
You remember Cortana, right? If you’ve ever played Halo, then at least you have a sufficient knowledge of the AI assistant that helped Master Chief navigate his world. That fictional AI persona was so popular that Microsoft adopted the nickname as a codename for its own real-world AI assistant, then kept the name when it introduced it a decade ago.
Cortana never lived up to its AI promise and ended up being deprecated and eventually removed from Microsoft products.
Another shot at voice AI
Now we have a new AI voice chatbot from Microsoft and OpenAi (via a modified version of ChatGPT) that doesn’t have its own name, just lives in Bing.
But knowing Microsoft’s history and playing with the Bing chat on my desktop for two weeks, I couldn’t resist getting some speech-to-speech time with Bing mobile.
I redownloaded the Bing search app, a mobile piece of software I haven’t touched in years.
While the desktop puts the large “Ask me anything…” prompt box front and center, I had to select the little “b” icon at the bottom of the Bing app screen to access the AI-powered chat .
Once installed, you still need to decide if you want the app to track you (I always say “no”) and give access to your microphone so that Bing can hear your question (say “yes”).
It’s weird, but I have what’s best called AI anxiety. When faced with an artificial intelligence prompting me to “Ask anything,” I freeze, unable to think of a single good question.
Help on the way
I finally decided, “Bing, write me a haiku about using the iPhone,” which I spoke to the app.
Note, you don’t have to start with “Bing”. It is not a password and activating the ChatGPT AI powered Bing required pressing the Bing button.
Bing took a long time to respond. One thing I noticed is that Bing also says what it’s looking for based on your query. It’s educational but also useful in case you hear that Bing misunderstood and you want to stop searching.
After a few moments, Bing recited this original haiku in a female voice that sounded a bit like Cortana:
On the iPhone screen
A world of information
Bing is here to help
Not bad and yes it hit the 5-7-5 syllable limits for each haiku line.
Next, I asked Bing to come up with a romantic dinner for two with seafood and rice. The only caveat is that the prep time had to be less than 30 minutes.
After another long wait, Bing AI chat told me about two recipes and asked me which one I would like. However, it’s here where the conversational aspect breaks down a bit. Instead of leaving the mic open to receive my reply, I found myself having to hit the mic button again. After doing this, I told Bing that I chose the “second.” Bing then graciously provided the recipe for salmon and rice, which would have read it in its entirety if I had allowed it.
Finally, I asked Bing AI Chat to play a game of Tic-Tac-Toe with me.
Bing happily agreed and presented a completely text-based game board and, without asking me, made the first move as “X”. Every time one of us made a move, it announced to the board not only the position of the “X”s and “O”s, but also the dashes and plus signs used for them. Well, I could live with that clumsiness for now.
After a few moves, I was prepared to block Bing AI chat for a win. Unfortunately, Bing cheats and insists it won, even though the board showed it didn’t.
Aside from the fuzzy game moves, the mobile version of Bing AI is relatively attractive. Microsoft still needs to work on the speed if it wants this to become true conversational AI and take on Siri and Alexa. Otherwise, Cortana may have given her digital life in vain.