Bing AI gets updated, users can now chat with Microsoft's ChatGPT-like chatbot for longer

By Abhik SenguptaMicrosoft’s newly launched Bing AI has received a new update, and users can chat with the AI (artificial intelligence)-powered chatbot for longer. According to Microsoft’s consumer chief marketing officer, Yusuf Mehdi, Bing AI will now support ten chats per session and 120 messages per day. Previously, the company allowed six queries per session and 60 messages per day.

The update essentially means that users can send nine follow-up queries to Bing AI after the initial chat. Once the user reaches the limit, the chat with Bing AI has to be refreshed and restarted.

In a blog post, Mehdi also shares some early stats. Bing has crossed 100 million Daily Active Users (DAU) and “one-third are new to Bing,” according to the post. Mehdi adds, “Secondly, not only are we seeing growth in new users, but we are seeing engagement growing as more people are conducting more searches daily.”

Microsoft states that two major factors are driving Bing AI’s growth. The company claims Edge continues to grow in usage, and Bing is getting better “due to the introduction of the Prometheus model,” which combines Microsoft’s Bing web data and OpenAI language model to answer complex queries in a conversational way. OpenAI is the creator of the viral chatbot ChatGPT.

Microsoft has repeatedly said that it wants to rival Google Search, which dominates the search engine market. With the ChatGPT-like Bing AI, Microsoft lets users search for queries in a traditional way or a conversational method. The latter simplifies complex queries by analysing online results. Bing AI, similar to ChatGPT, can even write social media posts, solve math problems, and proofread texts. Microsoft believes Bing’s latest feature will attract more customers and revolutionise the search engine market.

The company is also adding Bing AI capabilities to other platforms. For instance, the new Windows 11 update brings the AI-powered tool to search on the taskbar. Microsoft said that the search on Windows 11 taskbar can find answers “faster than ever.” The company has clarified that Bing AI offers citations, unlike the ChatGPT chatbot. Citations will allow users to see the source of the information, and cross-check if the information is accurate or not.

Google has also announced Bard, a tool similar to Bing AI and ChatGPT. Bard will also be incorporated into Google to let users find simple answers to complex queries. However, Google’s AI-powered chatbot remains unavailable to the public and rollout details from the company remain unclear.