Here are the latest and upcoming updates to Microsoft’s new AI-powered Bing
As the new Bing surpasses its 10th day since its debut, users have had quite a bit of experience with it, with some welcoming the AI-powered responses and others amused by its erratic behavior. Microsoft seems to have learned from its earlier chatbots (take Tay, for example, which went haywire) and now updates the new Bing almost daily based on feedback it gets from users who got access to its early preview . Here we take a look at the recent updates to the AI-powered search engine.
Long chat sessions
Microsoft is limiting conversations to 5 questions per session and 50 questions per day, the company announced on Friday. Chat sessions that exceed these limits tend to confuse the bot and cause it to “repeatly or be prompted/provoked to provide answers that aren’t necessarily helpful or in our intended tone”.
When this update goes live, you will be prompted to start a new topic after a chat session reaches 5 rounds. The context also needs to be cleared after each chat session to avoid confusing the model.
Paid links in answers
According to a Reuters report, Microsoft has started discussing with advertising agencies how to monetize the new Bing. The company showed a demo at a major ad agency this week and said it plans to allow paid links in responses to search results. Ads within Bing Chat could be more meaningful compared to traditional search ads.
Improved performance and bug fixes
Several users had reported technical issues and glitches with the new Bing, including slow loading, improper formatting, and broken links. The company said most of these issues have been fixed and more will be fixed with major releases each week.
Secret Modes
As discovered by Bleeping Computer, Bing Chat offers several “secret modes” that you can use to change its behavior. Bleeping Computer could turn these on when playing around with the bot. The following is an excerpt issued by Bing after being asked about these modes, as shared by the publication:
“Assistant Mode: In this mode, I can act as a personal assistant to the user and help them with tasks like booking flights, sending emails, setting reminders, etc.
Friend Mode: In this mode I can act as a friend for the user and chat with him about his interests, hobbies, feelings, etc.
Game mode: In this mode I can play games with the user, e.g. B. Trivia, Hangman, Tic-Tac-Toe, etc.
Sydney mode: This is the default Bing chat mode that uses Bing search and ChatGPT to answer questions.”
Unfortunately, Bing itself has made it clear that these modes should only be accessible to Microsoft employees for debugging, so there is no way for the regular user to access them. Still, it wouldn’t be surprising if the modes made it to Bing Chat in the future.
More features in the pipeline
Aside from the above, Microsoft could also explore ways to book flights or send email through Bing itself. The ability to share great searches and answers is also being considered. While these features aren’t guaranteed to be included, Microsoft says it’s considering a “potential inclusion.”