Microsoft is holding a surprise event and it might be about Bing and ChatGPT

A photo of the Microsoft logo
(Image credit: Asif Islam via Shutterstock)

Microsoft is holding a surprise, and secretive, launch event at its Redmond headquarters on Tuesday, Feb 7. It might be Bing ChatGPT integration's coming out to party or something else altogether, we just don't know yet.

The Windows 11 parent company sent out invites to a select group of tech media and analysts last week, but is only allowing everyone to talk about it – after some possible leaks – today.

In the invite the company says it's "sharing progress on a few exciting projects" and that CEO Satya Nadella will lead the discussion. What's missing here is, well, a number of things. The company has no plans to live stream the event; it's also offered zero information about the kinds of products, projects, or even product categories that will be discussed.

What we do and don't know

What we do know is that there will be hands-on demos. That could be hardware like a Microsoft Surface Duo 3 smartphone. But with the recent apparent Bing ChatGPT leaks, many people are betting we'll see an artificially intelligence-inseminated search engine instead.

As described by Owen Yin (via The Verge), who got brief access to what might be the next generation of Microsoft's search engine, Bing would integrate a very ChatGPT-like interface that could accept natural-language queries and return some very smart results. The standard Bing search engine would, based on this possible leak, live on beside the AI integration.

Microsoft's news comes just as Google unveiled its ChatGPT rival, Bard AI, in a very limited release but with a promise of it coming to Google Search soon.

Surface products, the laptop kind by the way, are unlikely, The company rolled out its entire new Surface line, including the Surface Pro 9 5G, Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Studio 2 Plus less than four months ago. Also unlikely is anything to do with the Microsoft Hololens, a mixed reality headset and part of the business that now appears to be running on fumes.

We have good news, though. Whatever Microsoft and Nadella are planning tomorrow, TechRadar will be there, on the ground. Your intrepid reporter has an invite and is on his way there right now. We'll share more details as we get them. Be sure to lock into TechRadar and this reporter's Twitter feed for live details.

Lance Ulanoff
Editor At Large

A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC. 

Read more
Amazon
Amazon just sent invites for a February 26 event, and we might finally see the debut of the next-gen Alexa
Alexa AI
Amazon drops unsubtle hints that Alexa AI is landing soon – 3 things to expect from the new voice assistant
An iPhone showing the ChatGPT logo on its screen
ChatGPT brings its conversational search engine to everyone
Amazon.in Freedom Sale
Amazon's big Alexa event is nearly here - here are 4 things to expect, including Alexa's AI upgrade and a new Echo speaker
A woman sitting in a chair looking at a Windows 11 laptop
If you're waiting for Windows 12 I have bad news: Microsoft is seemingly focused on cramming even more AI into Windows 11 instead
Microsoft AI Windows Search
Microsoft wants AI to make searching for files a more casual experience
Latest in Artificial Intelligence
Google Gemini Flash 2.0 Images
I tried Gemini's new AI image generation tool - here are 5 ways to get the best art from Google's Flash 2.0
Voice cloning
I cloned my voice in seconds using a free AI app, and we really need to talk about speech synthesis
Google Gemini AI logo on a smartphone with Google background
I made an AI version of Bilbo Baggins using Goggle Gemini for free, and shared a pipe with him outside Bag End – here’s what you can now do with Gems
Gemini 2.0
Gemini Deep Research just got even smarter and it’s now free for everyone to try - here's why you should give it a go
Google Gemini with Search history access. Image says "Get help from AI that gets you"
Google just gave Gemini a superpower by allowing it to access your Search history - here's why I'm excited and also a little terrified
AI tools.
I've tested all the best AI agents including ChatGPT Deep Research and Gemini - these are the 5 top automated artificial intelligence tools you can try right now
Latest in News
Google Gemini Flash 2.0 Images
I tried Gemini's new AI image generation tool - here are 5 ways to get the best art from Google's Flash 2.0
An image of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from a hands-on event
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could resurrect an intriguing camera feature
Eurocom Raptor X18
At $15,000, this massive 256GB RAM laptop makes Apple's MacBook Pro look affordable, tiny and very, very slow
Cristin Milioti in Black Mirror season 7
Netflix launches trailer for Black Mirror season 7, giving us a look at its first-ever sequel episode and an unexpected returning character
A graphic of the PC Gaming Show
Get ready for a bounty of PC games on June 8, as the PC Gaming show is back
A close up of The Daily podcast from Pocket Casts' web page
‘Podcasting shouldn’t be locked behind walled gardens’: Pocket Casts slams Spotify and makes its web player free to all