ChatGPT, the popular AI chatbot that can generate realistic and engaging conversations, is making headlines for integrating with Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. The integration, announced in May 2023, aimed to enhance the relevance and freshness of ChatGPT’s responses by allowing it to search the internet for recent information.
However, the feature, available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, has been temporarily disabled by OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, due to some issues with the content display.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that uses a deep learning model called GPT-3 to generate natural language responses based on user input. ChatGPT can converse on various topics and domains, such as sports, entertainment, news, trivia, jokes, and more. ChatGPT can also generate creative content like poems, stories, lyrics, code, and images.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT in July 2020 as a research project to explore the capabilities and limitations of GPT-3. Since then, ChatGPT has attracted millions of users who have interacted with the chatbot through various platforms and applications.
Researchers and developers have also used ChatGPT to create new products and services that leverage conversational abilities. ChatGPT offers two tiers of service: ChatGPT Free and ChatGPT Plus.
ChatGPT Free allows users to chat with the chatbot for up to 30 turns per conversation and access a limited set of features and domains. ChatGPT Plus allows users to chat with the chatbot for unlimited turns per conversation and access a full set of features and domains. ChatGPT Plus offers additional benefits like priority access, custom settings, feedback options, and beta features.
What is Bing?
Bing is a web search engine developed by Microsoft that provides users with information and answers from various sources, such as web pages, images, videos, news articles, maps, and more. Bing also offers specialized features, such as voice search, visual search, image recognition, translation, spell check, calculator, currency converter, and more.
Bing is one of the world’s most widely used search engines, with over 13% of the global market share as of June 2023. Bing also integrates with other Microsoft products and services, such as Windows 10, Cortana, Edge browser, Office 365, Xbox Live, Skype, and LinkedIn.
Bing is also a partner of OpenAI since 2019 when Microsoft invested $1 billion in the research organization to support its vision of creating artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI that can perform any intellectual task humans can. Microsoft provides OpenAI access to its Azure cloud computing platform and other resources as part of the partnership.
How Does ChatGPT Use Bing?
In May 2023, Microsoft announced it was bringing Bing to ChatGPT as the default search experience. This meant that ChatGPT would use Bing to search the internet for answers to questions that benefit from recent information.
For example, if a user asked ChatGPT about the latest news, events, or facts that are not part of its original training data. The integration of Bing into ChatGPT was intended to improve the quality and accuracy of ChatGPT’s responses by providing it with more up-to-date and relevant information.
The integration was also intended to showcase the potential of combining conversational AI and web search to create new experiences and applications. The integration of Bing into ChatGPT was initially available only to ChatGPT Plus subscribers as a beta feature called Browse with Bing.
Users could enable or disable this feature in their settings. When enabled, users could see a small icon next to ChatGPT’s responses that indicated that it used Bing to search for information.
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Why Did OpenAI Disable Browse With Bing?
On July 3rd, 2023 OpenAI announced that it had temporarily disabled the Browse with Bing beta feature in ChatGPT due to some issues with content display. The company explained that the feature occasionally displayed content in ways that it did not want.
For example, if a user specifically asked for a URL’s full text or an image’s full resolution or a video’s full length or a song’s full lyrics or a book’s full summary, or a game’s full walkthrough or a movie’s full plot or a product’s full review or a recipe’s full instructions or a coupon’s full code or any other content that might be protected by copyright or privacy laws.
OpenAI said it disabled the feature out of an abundance of caution while it fixed this issue to do right by content owners. The company said it worked to bring back the feature as quickly as possible and appreciated users’ understanding.
OpenAI did not provide a specific timeframe for when Browse with Bing would be reactivated. Still, it assured users that it worked diligently to bring back this feature as soon as possible. The company also said it was learning from this experience and would continue improving ChatGPT and its features.
The “Browse with Bing” feature in #ChatGPT has been deactivated by @OpenAI:
.@OpenAI disabled the “Browse with Bing” feature in #ChatGPT.
Reasons why below ↓ pic.twitter.com/V6yf9bCU4X
— DataChazGPT 🤯 (not a bot) (@DataChaz) July 4, 2023
What Are the Implications of Browse With Bing?
The integration of Browse with Bing into ChatGPT is a significant development for both ChatGPT and Bing, as well as for conversational AI and web search. The integration demonstrates the capabilities and challenges of combining two powerful technologies to create new possibilities and opportunities.
For ChatGPT, Browse with Bing could enhance its conversational skills and knowledge by providing more online information and answers. This could make ChatGPT more useful and engaging for users who want to chat about various topics and domains.
This could also make ChatGPT more attractive and competitive for developers who want to create new products and services that leverage its conversational abilities.
For Bing, Browse with Bing could increase its exposure and usage by reaching millions of ChatGPT users who might not otherwise use Bing as their primary search engine. This could boost Bing’s market share and revenue, as well as its reputation and influence.
This could also inspire Bing to develop new features and innovations that cater to the needs and preferences of conversational AI users. For conversational AI and web search, Browse with Bing could open new avenues of research and development by exploring the synergies and trade-offs between natural language generation and natural language understanding.
This could lead to new advances and breakthroughs in both fields, applications, and solutions that benefit society. Browse with Bing is a promising feature that could enhance the experience and value of ChatGPT for users, developers, researchers, and content owners.
However, the feature also poses challenges and risks that OpenAI, Microsoft, and other stakeholders must address and resolve. The temporary suspension of the feature is a reminder of the complexity and responsibility involved in creating and deploying conversational AI systems that use web search engines.