Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — Microsoft has officially rolled out its AI-powered search engine, called Bing Generative Search, positioning it as a direct competitor to Google’s AI-enhanced search features. Following a trial period in July, the new Bing Generative Search was made available to all U.S. users on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, though Microsoft is still refining the technology.
To access Bing Generative Search, users can simply search for “Bing Generative Search” in Bing. Microsoft also announced plans to make the feature easier to activate for informational queries, streamlining the search process.
Powered by a blend of AI models, the search engine scours information from across the web to generate concise summaries in response to user queries. Much like Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience, users have the option to bypass AI-generated summaries in favor of manual search results from traditional web pages.
“It understands search requests, reviews millions of sources, dynamically matches content, and generates search results in a new AI-driven layout to more effectively meet user intent,” Microsoft stated, as stated by TechCrunch.
A Key Difference: How Bing and Google Treat Publishers
One notable distinction between Google’s AI Overviews and Microsoft’s Bing Generative Search is their approach to publishers. In July, Microsoft promised to closely monitor how generative search impacts traffic to news publishers, a topic of growing concern for the media industry.
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Microsoft has indicated that early data suggests Bing Generative Search maintains website click-through rates, though the company has not shared any new research on this claim. If Microsoft can deliver on this promise, it could position Bing as more publisher-friendly than Google. The primary concern has been that AI tools like these often provide users with summarized information, potentially reducing traffic to the original content creators.
This threat of AI cannibalizing web traffic has already been documented. A recent study found that Google’s AI Overviews could negatively affect about 25% of publisher traffic, as the feature emphasizes its own summaries over direct article links, diminishing clicks to the original sources.
Microsoft’s approach with Bing could help preserve traffic to content creators and news publishers, addressing a major issue in the growing debate over AI’s impact on online media.
(Raidi/Agung)
