Microsoft is preparing to roll out a version of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s machine learned text-generation language model, as part of its Bing search engine for web browsers.
As reported by The Information, the plans were revealed by two insiders at Microsoft, which has already implemented the language model GPT into aspects of Bing following its $1bn investment into OpenAI in 2019, including its autocomplete function, used to predict what users may be searching for based off of a partially complete search query.
The news comes less than a month after Google was reportedly at “code red” over pressure from employees to implement artificial intelligence into its own search engine, with the head of Google’s AI division Jeff Dean claiming that AI could make users trust Google less if it provided incorrect information to users.
Bing Search and GPT
While there are ways to increase the likelihood of AI-generated information being accurate, such as citing sources, Microsoft are remaining cautious, and reportedly aren’t ready to completely replace Bing’s existing model of suggesting relevant web links to queries just yet.
“Bing will still rely on its own technology to produce most search results,” said one of the insiders, noting that GPT is not designed to constantly scrape data from the internet. ChatGPT itself warns users that it has a “limited knowledge of [the] world and events after 2021”, alluding to the fact that the GPT language model can’t train itself on the fly.
“GPT could also help Bing do a better job of suggesting other keywords users could type to see answers to related searches”, the insider said, or suggest other related queries to users while explaining their relevance.
While nothing is set in stone, The Information reported this person as saying that elements of ChatGPT could be rolled into Bing Search as soon as March, with Microsoft potentially billing it as “one of the only ways to access parts of GPT”.
The move comes as OpenAI looks to monetise ChatGPT in the future as an additional way to raise capital alongside lucrative corporate investments such as Microsoft's.
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