How to Use Bing AI with ChatGPT (and Why)

Welcome the all-new powerful Bing AI search, powered with the best conversational AI engine, (Chat)GPT.

2023 marks the beginning of the end of how search engines used to work. All major search providers, including Google, are shifting to an AI chatbot experience.

So instead of a conventional search box where a user finds relevant information from page one or two within the search engine result pages (SERPs), you’ll have a consolidated response right there.

In addition, this AI-powered search is more creative, and the overall notion is moving towards a more human-like interaction.

The candidate in the spotlight here is Microsoft’s Bing AI (aka The New Bing), which is riding this wave thanks to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Before going with the hands-on, let’s brush up on some background.

What is ChatGPT?

OpenAI’s brainchild, ChatGPT, is an AI chatbot.

Put simply; you can “talk” to it about many things, including coding, math, science, history, literature, health & fitness, life, spirituality, and anything in between.

Besides, it can take context to answer follow-up questions, reject invalid prompts, correct its mistakes if asked upon, and question inaccurate queries.

It threatens mundane job profiles and assists in performing high-caliber tasks. Consequently, it’s one of the biggest technological developments, dare I say, of the last few decades.

Now imagine all that power inside a search engine.

What is Bing AI?

Microsoft has a sizable stake in OpenAI. So when it saw ChatGPT taking the internet by storm, it integrated both to give birth to a new search experience.

So, will this turn the tables in Microsoft’s favor and give it an upper hand over Google? More importantly, is it any good for an average user?

While the winner of the ongoing battle, Bing AI vs. Google search, can’t be declared at present, let’s find out if Bing AI search is useful for you.

Bing AI with ( or VS.) ChatGPT

For starters, Bing AI and ChatGPT are different products. Therefore, saying BingAI is based on ChatGPT is factually incorrect.

Instead, both are based on the GPT-4 (the latest, as of this writing), with the Bing AI being customized for search, and ChatGPT is tuned like a chatbot.

I have tested both, and there is a substantial difference between them.

First, ChatGPT isn’t internet connected if you don’t have the paid version and don’t turn it on from the settings.

On the contrary, Bing AI behaves like a typical search engine, giving you a summarized answer with citations for a few queries. In addition, it has a dedicated chatbox which makes it somewhat similar to ChatGPT.

And ChatGPT, the GPT-4 version, is a paid product while you get Bing AI for free.

If you’re interested in ChatGPT, here is the ever-increasing ChatGPT catalog. But stay tuned if the next-generation AI-powered search is what you’re here for.

How to Use Bing AI?

The easiest way is to visit bing.com. This will open the interface, as indicated in the ☝🏼 above image. Once you type in the query, you’ll get the conventional search view with the results, as shown in the following image.

The SERP will show Ads, and AI-chat responses, succeeded by the standard search results.

As far as search is concerned, it’s that chatbox the internet is going crazy about. This summarizes the information from the individual results and indicates the resources for a deep dive.

If not under the ads, this chat interface can be hidden in the side panel. You may need to scroll down to locate it.

However, based on search intent, this chatbox appears only for specific queries. For instance, you won’t get this type of response for searching “antarctica” but it will be there for queries like “how can I visit antarctica” or “help me plan a trip to antarctica.”

And this is all you get if you’re not using Microsoft Edge. A single glimpse of AI-based search.

To ask follow-up questions and unlock its full potential, you’ll have to ditch whatever browser you might be using and switch over to Edge. This will allow you to get the dedicated chatbox results for all queries, irrespective of the intent.

Consider Microsoft Edge as a pizza (with sauces, toppings, cheese, etc.) while (the best browser) Google Chrome is just its base. Take the leap, and you’ll never go back to Chrome.

And there is so much more to this, covered in the further sections.

Bing Chat: An Overview

After you install Edge, type your search query in the URL bar, or visit bing.com if you’ve already changed the search engine back to Google.

Next, click Chat (indicated by 1) or click any follow-through queries (indicated by 2) to land in the Bing chat interface.

This gives you three options: More Creative, More Balanced, and More Precise. Put simply; they are what their names suggest.

I didn’t find any hard-line differences among them, though. Still, they demonstrate distinct levels of accuracy and styles for specific queries.

Occasionally, these conversations reach a dead end where there is no possibility of continuing.

These can be some tipping points programmed into these chatbots, after which they deny to proceed.

I similarly reached these situations when I called Creative and Balanced a liar. Although, when I called out Precise in a similar fashion, it accepted its mistake and offered an apology. The prompt was to summarize the first novel of the Harry Potter saga in 200 words. And since no one could do it in the asked length, I asked them to count the number of words, which they did incorrectly.

But these things aren’t deal breakers.

This just reaffirms the fact that these chatbots, no matter how sophisticated they behave at times, can be totally wrong at others. One should always tread with caution and not take the responses as-is.

Also read: Google Bard vs. ChatGPT

Bing AI Examples

Bing AI search and Chat are inherently similar. Just that the search engine does that once within the SERPs, while the chat engine has a unique interface for longer conversations.

Talking about that, the conversation length is limited to five queries, and it extends to 30 if you’re logged in with a Microsoft account. In addition, signing in saves your recent activity.

But there doesn’t seem to be any daily limit, and one can start a new conversation to refill the quota.

So why use Bing AI search or its Chat?

Put simply; the objective is to simplify the search experience. You don’t have to sieve through the results; instead, you will get a summary (kind of) from a few ones. It’s like someone is searching on your behalf and presenting the findings in a chatbox.

In addition to that, one can get original AI outputs for articles, poems, coding, stories, songs, images, etc. Moreover, they can be worthy assistants for creating summaries, finding errors, taking feedback, and whatnot.

Here are a few examples.

Movie Recommendation

Summarize John Wick 4 (without giving away spoilers) and suggest if I should watch it.

Poetry

Create a poem depicting the pain of a software company, Microsoft, because of major search engine traffic being gobbled up by its competitor, Google.

Summary

Summarize this article: https://geekflare.com/chatgpt-bard-ai-home-tutoring-assistants/

Creating Image

Create an image of an ice-cream tree. take the background as some heavenly place.

Just so you know, one can open these images to their full resolution and adjust elements by giving subsequent prompts.

Problem-Solving

A ship anchored in a port has a ladder that hangs over the side. The length of the ladder is 200cm, the distance between each rung is 20cm, and the bottom rung touches the water. The tide rises at a rate of 10cm an hour. When will the water reach the fifth rung?

Please note this is the weakest aspect of the Bing chat as of now. I have tried Bing Chat for solving various math problems with all its modes (creative, balanced, and precise) and found them inconsistent. As a thumb rule, double-check every response.

Are you impressed?

AI search is the onset of a new era. It’ll make things fast and easier for an average user. At the same time, it can make blunders if the user neglects cross-verification.

Personally, it’s fun, and I’ll use it more going forward. And since Bing AI gives the power of GPT-4 without any paid subscription, there is no reason to avoid it for any internet user.

Not ChatGPT; I guess Bing AI can be the real code red for Google.

PS: See how to supercharge Google Colab with ChatGPT.