As part of the Microsoft Build 2023 developers conference, the company has announced even more features for its Bing search and Bing Chat services. The biggest reveal is that Bing search will soon be incorporated directly into OpenAI"s ChatGPT chatbot AI.
Of course, Microsoft is a major financial and development partner with OpenAI in ChatGPT, and Microsoft has been using OpenAI"s tech for its Bing Chat bot since it launched earlier this year.
In a blog post, Microsoft stated:
ChatGPT will now have a world-class search engine built-in to provide timelier and more up-to-date answers with access from the web. Now, ChatGPT answers can be grounded by search and web data and include citations so you can learn more—all directly from within chat.
Subscribers to ChatGPT Plus will get first access to the new Bing search features, but it will be enabled for free users in the near future via a plugin that will add Bing search to the chatbot.
Speaking of plugins, Microsoft announced earlier in May that Bing Chat would support third-party plugins. Today at Build 2023, the company confirmed that developers would be able to develop plugins that would work on several different platforms, including Bing Chat, ChatGPT, Dynamics 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Windows Copilot.
Microsoft also announced new Bing Chat plugin partners. They include:
- Expedia
- Instacart
- Kayak
- Klarna
- Redfin
- TripAdvisor
- Zillow
- Bandsintown
- Bohita
- Cloudflare
- Coupert
- Fareportal
- FiscalNote
- Golden
- Lexi Shopper
- Likewise
- Notable
- One Word Domains
- PromptPerfect
- Shopify
- Skyscanner
- Spotify
- Spotnana
- Trip.com
Microsoft said these new plugins will be available in Bing Chat, or in the Bing sidebar on Edge, in the coming weeks on both desktop and mobile platforms.
The company also commented that Bing Chat plugins will be incorporated into the newly announced Windows Copilot and into the Edge web browser in the near future.
In case you want to read more, you can find the rest of the Build 2023 coverage here.