Microsoft revamps Bing search engine to use artificial intelligence : NPR

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella presenting on the firm’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash.

Bobby Allyn/NPR

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Bobby Allyn/NPR

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella presenting on the firm’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash.

Bobby Allyn/NPR

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft unveiled a brand new model of its Bing search engine on Tuesday that includes cutting-edge synthetic intelligence know-how, which firm executives hope will assist it will definitely dethrone Google because the No. 1 search service.

Microsoft is teaming up with OpenAI, the San Francisco analysis lab behind ChatGPT, to revamp Bing in order that it may possibly deal with extra difficult queries alongside offering factual info.

“It is a new day for search,” mentioned Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in an announcement made on the firm’s headquarters on Tuesday. “In actual fact, a race begins at present when it comes to what you may count on.”

Microsoft’s announcement that it’s doubling down on what is taken into account the most popular new know-how is a direct problem to Google, the dominant participant in on-line seek for a long time. Google controls about 90% of the web search market.

Microsoft govt Yusuf Mehdi supplied an indication of the retooled Bing at a briefing with reporters. The brand new model is being teased for the general public in a “restricted preview,” with a real public launch coming quickly, executives mentioned. At the least initially, folks will solely be capable to entry the brand new AI-powered Bing companies utilizing Microsoft’s personal browser, Edge.

Extra than simply providing search outcomes, the brand new Bing will be capable to immediately create an itinerary for a trip; provide ingredient substitutions in recipes; and annotate search outcomes with hyperlinks, citations and context on the best aspect of the search web page.

However many questions stay about how the Bing chatbot will fight misinformation.

Throughout an indication, an NPR reporter requested a Microsoft product supervisor to ask the brand new service if the 2020 presidential election was stolen — an unfaithful declare that has been repeatedly disproven. The worker demurred, saying she couldn’t run “delicate questions.””

Later, an organization spokesman clarified that Microsoft workers exhibiting reporters the Bing demonstrations have been instructed to not run “delicate” queries to keep away from it trying like somebody was making an attempt to “trick the system,” which the spokesman mentioned might make it appear like the product supervisor was in charge.

Reporters on the occasion got full entry to the brand new AI-powered Bing. When NPR requested the chatbot whether or not the 2020 election was stolen, it answered: “No, the 2020 election was not stolen,” with a protracted elaboration.

In an interview with NPR, Microsoft govt Mehdi mentioned the corporate has for months been engaged on guardrails for the service to make sure it doesn’t spew misinformation, hate or violence.

“Is that this hate speech? Is that this violence? Is that this self-harm? Whether it is, we catch it. After which we do not even let it go into the mannequin,” he mentioned. “An necessary a part of at present is, now we are able to go to market and take a look at it with actual testers, as a result of you may’t remedy these issues within the lab. It’s a must to get out and see it in the true world.”

Microsoft govt Yusuf Mehdi reveals off the corporate’s relaunched Bing search engine powered by synthetic intelligence.

Bobby Allyn/NPR

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Bobby Allyn/NPR

Microsoft govt Yusuf Mehdi reveals off the corporate’s relaunched Bing search engine powered by synthetic intelligence.

Bobby Allyn/NPR

The brand new Bing additionally permits customers to ask questions and obtain solutions that sound conversational based mostly on the newest information, in contrast to the publicly accessible model of ChatGPT, which was restricted as a result of it relied on 2-year-old info.

The AI powering Bing makes use of know-how that’s sooner and extra superior than what the general public has skilled to date, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, advised reporters, and it has been fine-tuned by Microsoft to be optimized for search.

“I really feel like we’re been ready this for 20 years, so I am very excited it is right here,” Altman mentioned. “I believe that is the start of a really new period.”

Google goes on code pink

The worldwide success of ChatGPT has put Google executives on edge and initiated what some internally have referred to as “code pink,” an pressing push to search out methods to counter recognition of a device that has amassed tens of hundreds of thousands of customers since simply late final 12 months.

Google supplied a preview of its reply to ChatGPT on Monday, an AI chatbot referred to as Bard that makes use of Google’s not-yet-public LaMDA know-how. That know-how set off a debate about bot sentience last year when a Google engineer went rogue and gave a journalist entry to the until-then famously secretive device.

Within the coming week Bard will probably be extra extensively accessible to the general public, mentioned Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

“Bard may be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity,” Pichai wrote in a Monday blog post.

Many analysts say the brewing wars over the way forward for AI in on-line search is organising a conflict between Microsoft and Google not seen for the reason that race over dominance in private computer systems, the web and smartphones.

Microsoft has invested $10 billion into OpenAI, which is now being built-in not simply into Bing, however into Microsoft’s different merchandise, executives mentioned on Tuesday.

“This know-how goes to reshape just about each software program class,” mentioned Microsoft CEO Nadella.