You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, as its popularity has risen over the past few months. But a new contender has entered the chat and is becoming the latest focal point in the tech world. Bing Chat is another AI chatbot that provides human-like conversational interaction to answer any of your queries and to complete tasks for you like writing essays. But is it something that’s worth trying out? Read on to learn more and find out.
What can Bing Chat do?
Bing Chat is Microsoft’s newest feature included in its Edge browser and Bing search engine and is part of an integration with ChatGPT, however, it uses the latest version of the software, GPT-4. The AI chatbot can respond to your questions in a human-like manner and can also generate creative texts like poems, stories and songs. It has the ability to generate new text each time you ask it a question so you can get content that’s never been written before.
Microsoft also announced their Bing Image Creator which currently is a stand-alone service but will soon be rolled out into Bing Chat. Users will then be able to create AI-generated images from text. So all you’ll have to do is ask Bing Chat to create a specific image for you and you’ll have what you’re looking for right in front of you.
Not only can you use Bing Chat for generating content, you can use it for general queries too. For example, you can ask for specific information and it will bring up everything you need to know in one answer. You can also use it for instances like trying to choose the best pair of trainers while online shopping. Bing Chat is able to compare the pros and cons of your options and help you make an informed decision. You can also ask Bing Chat to search for holiday deals and come up with a tailored itinerary for your holiday.
How does Bing Chat work?
Bing Chat uses an extensive knowledge base to draw information from and return answers to your queries. It relies on a language model that was also developed by ChatGPT’s owners, OpenAI, which has been trained to gather information from across the internet to come up with relevant text that answers a user’s questions. It has the ability to source information in real-time so you can expect up-to-date answers, however, there is no way to stop it from providing misinformation. Bing Chat, like other chatbots, can only serve relevant information and doesn’t have the ability to determine whether that information is factual or not. It does give you citations in its responses so you can verify the information yourself.
It can understand most major languages but is limited to only 200 conversations per day and only 20 replies. Microsoft has said that the need for more replies is not there as most people find what they’re looking for in five or fewer replies.
How does Bing Chat compare to other chatbots?
Each AI chatbot will have its own strengths and weaknesses so its important to remember that each one may not serve you the same purpose as the next. Comparing it to ChatGPT, although the two are very similar, Bing stacks up a little bit higher because users have access to it on many platforms whereas ChatGPT is limited to working in a web browser.
Another competitor for Bing Chat is Google Bard, which relies on its own language model LaMDA. The major advantage Google Bard has over other AI chatbots is that it has access to the data Google collects from its search. And Google is known to be the largest data collector. Bing Chat also uses real-time data from its search but where Bing shines is in providing citations to its answers which provide clarity that Bard, and ChatGPT, cannot.
All three AI chatbots are free to use, with ChatGPT including a Plus version for $20/month.
The bottom line
The world of AI is upon us and it’s time we embrace it. With so many tools to make our online lives more efficient and easy, it will be interesting to see how these software and platforms further develop and improve their features. Bing Chat seems to be a top contender in the ring and time will tell how popular it becomes. What will you be using Bing Chat for?