Microsoft brings Bing chatbot with AI to smartphone
With the targeted use of artificial intelligence, Microsoft is currently trying to oust Google from the center of the Internet. And since the majority of search queries are mobile, the company is now targeting the iPhone and Android smartphones.
Microsoft is bringing the AI chatbot of its revamped Bing search engine to the Android and iOS smartphone platforms. The company announced this in a blog entry on Wednesday. In addition, the world's largest software company also wants to equip its Edge browser for smartphones and its Skype video telephony software with artificial intelligence functions.
Microsoft announced the first steps of its comprehensive AI offensive in cooperation with the start-up OpenAI two weeks ago. Microsoft promises that Bing will aggregate reliable sources from the web to give users a single answer instead of a long list of links.
Spontaneous expressions of love and other mistakes
Similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT text robot, the Bing chatbot impressed primarily with eloquent responses during the trial phase. However, it also sometimes provided incorrect or made-up facts. In some cases, the Bing chatbot caused a stir with spontaneous declarations of love and snotty answers. Afterwards, Microsoft restricted the use of the chat tool for lengthy dialogs, which had proven to be particularly prone to errors.
Microsoft did not completely open access to the new Bing during the test phase, but put many interested parties on a waiting list. However, they have now welcomed more than one million people from 169 countries from the waiting list, Microsoft manager Yusuf Mehdi wrote. "We are adding more people to the preview every day."
Feedback on the new features has been positive, he said, with "71 percent of test participants giving the new Bing a 'thumbs up' for the new search and response features."
"Co-pilot for the Internet"
Bing search queries on the smartphone do not have to be typed in, but can be dictated. At the same time, the new Bing mobile app can not only display the answers as written text, but also read them aloud.
The new Bing and Edge browser for cell phones could "serve as a co-pilot for the Internet" even if you're not sitting at a desktop computer, Mehdi explained. The AI features in Skype will be used to improve social communication with friends and family.
With its AI initiative, Microsoft is not only making an attempt to become more relevant again in Internet searches, but also in web browsers. According to the calculations of the market research company Statcounter, Google currently has a share of just under 93 percent in Internet searches, while Microsoft with Bing is only at 3 percent. The situation is similarly bad for browsers: Google Chrome leads here with 65.4 percent, ahead of Safari (Apple) with 18.7 percent. Microsoft's Edge has a market share of 4.5 percent. (SDA)
