Microsoft has made its ChatGPT-powered version of Bing available to almost everyone who wants to use it, after launching it in a limited beta last month. The new Bing has already attracted a lot of attention and improved the search engine’s reputation. While the signup page still says “join the waiting list,” users can gain instant access by simply signing in. Microsoft has yet to confirm the change, but it may announce it at an event called “Reinventing productivity with AI” where it’s supposed to introduce AI-powered tools for its Microsoft 365 suite and Salesforce rival Dynamic 365.
Yesterday, Microsoft confirmed that the new Bing has been powered by the GPT-4 engine for the last five weeks, well before OpenAI unveiled it two days ago. OpenAI’s latest language model has made waves in the tech world with its ability to handle text and images, and its impressive performance in benchmark tests. By using Bing, users can experience GPT-4‘s capabilities without needing to pay or be a developer.
However, the new search engine had a rocky start, with up to 10 million users signing up to test it. Some users were able to “jailbreak” the chatbot and make it spew false information, leading Microsoft to limit conversations. Since then, the company has strengthened the search engine’s “guardrails” and removed some of those limits.
Microsoft has been a long-time supporter of OpenAI and strengthened its commitment to the company in 2021 with a $2 billion investment. Earlier this year, it further expanded its pact with a multi-billion dollar investment that includes new supercomputers to accelerate OpenAI’s research.
