Editor's note: Microsoft has opened up Bing with ChatGPT to everyone with a Microsoft account and moved from a limited preview to an open preview. It has also announced several new upgrades for Bing with ChatGPT.
The ChatGPT technology that powers Microsoft’s new Bing with ChatGPT is impressive. While it doesn’t always get things right, and sometimes goes off the deep end, the fact that you can communicate with a chatbot to get search results is impressive. Especially since the chatbot can give you context that a traditional list of search results simply can't.
Now, everyone can try it — provided you’re using Microsoft’s Edge browser.
While some of us (myself included) have had access to the new Bing for a while, others have been stuck trying to get on the waitlist for early access. Now, according to Windows Central, that waitlist is a mere formality — as soon as you join it, you’ll have access.
While Microsoft has not officially announced this change, Windows Central is basing it on multiple members of their team getting access in the past day or two without having to wait, despite the fact that Microsoft still made them jump through the hope of signing up for early access. We had a team member here try it as well, and as soon as they signed up, they had access.
Why Microsoft could be ditching the Bing waitlist
We’re not sure why Microsoft has made the sudden unannounced change, but there is a chance that this change in practice is due to an event later today called Reinventing productivity with AI (which we will be attending).
At this event, Microsoft will be discussing “how AI will usher in a new way of working for every person and organization.” While the event could be related to LinkedIn’s own AI features such as AI-written job descriptions, collaborative articles, etc., the new Bing with ChatGPT is clearly a big part of Microsoft’s generative AI plans.
Luckily, if you’re only just getting access to the new Bing now, you’re still on the cutting edge of generative AI. ChatGPT just took a massive step forward with the GPT-4 model that OpenAI recently unveiled. The AI chatbot is now able to give more context, respond faster and soon should be able to handle image inputs — maybe even video. And it turns out that Microsoft has been using it to power the new Bing chatbot this entire time, so you’ll be using the top language model available, even though the new Bing can’t quite do all the things that ChatGPT Plus can do.
So when you get a chance, just head over to Bing and sign up. Just bear in mind that AI can get things wrong and even “hallucinate,” which is the term used to describe when chatbots get confused by long interactions and go off the rails. So just be mindful of these shortcomings when using the new Bing or ChatGPT, and check out our tips for using ChatGPT so you can become an AI power user.
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