Microsoft recently announced a host of new artificial intelligence (AI) features for its Bing chatbot and Edge web browser. Chief among these changes is that Bing users now have full access to the GPT-4 model the same underlying engine that powers ChatGPT's “Plus” subscription service.
Previously, Microsoft restricted the GPT-4 version of the Bing chatbot to a "limited preview." It's now announcing open availability through the Bing app, web access, and the Edge browser. In addition to giving Bing, Edge, and Windows users free , unrestricted access to GPT-4 models, Microsoft also announced upcoming support for multimodal output, chat logs, and plugins. Multimodal support will allow Bing chatbots to generate responses that include a combination of text, images and video. It will also be able to generate charts and graphs, which could give it an edge over ChatGPT.
Users can also access their full chat history and, for those using the Edge browser, can move chats to the sidebar to continue browsing in the same tab. Microsoft says the feature will be implemented "beginning soon." In the future, according to the blog post, Bing will even be able to refer to previous sessions when interacting with users:
"Over time, we're exploring ways to make your chats more personal by bringing the context of previous chats into new conversations." Perhaps the most ambitious new addition announced is "Edge Actions," also known as "Bing Actions," which is Microsoft's term for an upcoming third-party plugin that integrates Bing Chat. The only plugins specifically mentioned in the announcement are OpenTable, which allows users to book tables at restaurants directly within the chat interface, and Wolfram/Alpha, a mode that allows users to create complex visualizations for mathematical and scientific queries. More integrations will be announced as they are implemented, Microsoft said.
The new features do not require any purchases or subscriptions, but users will need a free Microsoft account to take advantage of the full suite of Bing chatbot features.
In comparison, OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus service costs $20 per month to access the same GPT-4 model (the free ChatGPT service relies on GPT-3.5). Also, ChatGPT Plus currently does not provide image generation, web search, or third-party plugin support. It's unclear how Microsoft and OpenAI plan to balance their respective offerings. Experts weighing in on social media expressed confusion over what appeared to be a competition for users, as the two companies essentially became partners after Microsoft invested $10 billion in Open AI. As it stands, those who pay for ChatGPT Plus do get certain benefits not available to the general public or Bing chatbot users. These include early access to new features, priority access to the system even during periods of high traffic, and faster model response times.
Throughout 2023, the cryptocurrency world will see a surge of interest in chatbot technology. Developers have built advanced autonomous trading bots on the GPT-4 platform, and many individual crypto users have started using chatbots for various reasons. It's not clear whether OpenAI intends to adapt its subscription service given the ubiquity of Bing Microsoft says the search engine now has 100 million users, and adding Bing AI to the Windows taskbar gives it a potential global reach of more than 100 million users. 5 billion monthly users.
