Technology giant Microsoft’s search engine Bing, powered by artificial intelligence, has been the focus of praise and then criticism.
Some analysts predicted that Bing, in which the company integrated the artificial intelligence chat bot ChatGPT, would be extremely successful and predicted that the new search engine would dethrone Google.
However, the first experiences of users on Bing pointed to a different picture.
In a forum on Reddit dedicated to user experiences with Bing, users wrote that the search engine scolded them, gave them wrong information and confused them.
The posts, which included screenshots, showed the search engine insisting that it was 2022 and telling someone who refused to accept erroneous information that they were “not a good user”.
“Bing tries to keep the answers both fun and factual,” Microsoft officials told AFP:
[su_quote]However, it is important to keep in mind that this is an early preview. It may sometimes show unexpected or incorrect responses for different reasons, for example due to the length or context of the conversation.[/su_quote]
They limited the conversation
Following these complaints, Microsoft decided to restrict users’ right to ask questions to the search engine.
With the new rules, users can ask a maximum of 5 questions per session and a maximum of 50 questions per day.
When users reach the limit of 5 per session, Bing asks them to move on to a new topic. With this practice, the company aims to avoid long and double chat sessions.
[su_quote]”Our data shows that the vast majority of users find the answers they are looking for within 5 rounds,” the Bing team said:[/su_quote]
Only about 1 percent of chats contain more than 50 messages.
The search engine became available to a limited number of users just days after Microsoft decided to invest $10 billion in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and retire Internet Explorer.
To use Bing, users enter the search engine’s page and are presented with “Try it” and “Learn more” options.
By clicking “Try it out”, it is possible to take a look at some of Microsoft’s exercises that provide some insight into the topic. Users who want to experience more than that can click “Learn more” and enter the waiting list.
Users approved by the company on the waiting list have the opportunity to experience Bing.
To increase the chances of being featured on the waiting list, Microsoft needs to install the Edge browser and make Bing the default search engine.
Microsoft officials state that they will open Bing to millions of users in the coming days.
