Microsoft to add AI chat and search functions to Bing and Edge

Microsoft will add artificial intelligence-powered features, including chat, to its search engine, Bing, and its browser Edge, the software giant announced at a presentation in Redmond on Tuesday morning.

Powered by OpenAI and Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Bing will have a summary of the results from a search with annotations about the sources. People will have access to a chat function similar to ChatGPT, but as a proprietary engine, in which they can ask questions to an AI engine. The chat goes as far as creating an email or travel itinerary.

Edge will also provide people with the same summary version when, for example, comparing earnings statements from two different companies. And people will have access to the ChatGPT function when using Edge.

“It’s a new day in search, it’s a new paradigm for search, rapid innovation is going to come,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said at the event.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the OpenAI models in Bing and Edge are the most advanced, and that the use of AI will “improve productivity and day-to-day quality of life.”

In January, Microsoft announced a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment” in San Francisco-based OpenAI, the artificial intelligence startup that makes ChatGPT and other tools that write text and generate images through an AI engine.

Microsoft is a returning investor in OpenAI and it is the sole cloud provider for the startup. The agreement is the third stage of a four-year partnership with the startup that began with a $1 billion investment. Microsoft’s investment in AI puts the tech giant in a strong position in the growing technology, but at a time when AI competition is brewing. 

Last week, Google, which holds more than an 80% share of the search market, announced a partnership with OpenAI’s rival Anthropic. The deal gives Google a stake in Anthropic, but doesn’t require the startup to spend the money buying cloud services from Google, according to Bloomberg. 

This story will be updated with details from the event.