Microsoft has taken a significant leap in the search engine race, unveiling its AI-powered Bing generative search — a direct response to Google’s similar AI-driven search capabilities. After a pilot phase in July, this new search experience began its gradual rollout to U.S. users, bringing with it a host of innovations. Though still in development, Bing generative search aims to reshape the way users interact with search engines by providing AI-curated summaries of information from across the web.
How to Access Bing Generative Search
Users eager to try out this cutting-edge technology can activate it simply by searching “Bing generative search” on the Bing platform. Microsoft has also introduced an easier option for triggering Bing generative search, particularly for “informational queries.” These changes reflect Microsoft’s commitment to making the next generation of search more intuitive and accessible to users.
What Sets Bing Generative Search Apart?
Bing generative search isn’t just another search engine tool — it’s a reimagined search experience underpinned by advanced AI models. Unlike traditional search engines, which merely rank and display links, Bing generative search dives deeper. It dynamically gathers, processes, and organizes data from across millions of sources to provide an AI-generated summary in response to a user’s query.
For instance, a search query like “What’s a spaghetti western?” doesn’t just produce a list of links or articles. Instead, Bing generative search presents users with a comprehensive summary, including the genre’s history, notable examples, and relevant links for further reading. This AI-driven response aims to provide a faster, more detailed answer, catering to the user’s specific search intent.
Striking a Balance: AI Summaries vs. Traditional Search
Despite its AI-powered capabilities, Microsoft has incorporated flexibility for users. Bing generative search includes an option to dismiss the AI-generated summaries and revert to traditional search results. This balance offers users the choice between cutting-edge AI insights and the familiar search results they may prefer.
An Evolution of AI-Powered Search
Bing generative search is the latest step in Microsoft’s broader push into AI-driven search experiences. In February 2023, Microsoft made headlines by launching AI-generated chat answers in Bing, setting the stage for this latest innovation. Microsoft believes that the new generative search approach goes even further in understanding and fulfilling users’ search intent. According to the company, the system reviews vast amounts of information from a wide variety of sources, matches content dynamically, and presents search results in an entirely new, AI-generated layout. This, Microsoft says, leads to a more reliable, accurate search experience that caters specifically to the needs of each query.
However, this level of AI involvement doesn’t come without its challenges.
The Potential Pitfalls of AI-Generated Search
While Microsoft champions its generative search tool as more reliable, the tech industry is no stranger to mishaps with AI-generated content. Google’s AI-powered Overviews, for instance, once infamously suggested adding glue to a pizza recipe, while other AI systems have provided similarly absurd recommendations — including one search engine’s suggestion that cut-off toes could grow back.
Even more concerning is the issue of AI-generated content infringing on publisher rights. There have been instances where AI tools plagiarized articles without proper credit. Microsoft has been vocal about its commitment to ensuring Bing generative search does not undermine publishers. During the initial rollout, the company promised to closely monitor how generative search impacts web traffic to news outlets and websites, releasing preliminary data suggesting that Bing maintained the number of clicks to publisher sites.
A Growing Debate on Traffic and Attribution
This promise to maintain traffic is crucial, as AI-powered search summaries risk diverting attention away from the original content creators. A study on Google’s AI Overviews revealed that approximately 25% of publisher traffic could be negatively impacted by the AI summaries because they de-emphasize direct links to articles. Content creators and publishers argue that the rise of AI-generated overviews could lead to a significant drop in website traffic, potentially undermining the business models of those who rely on ad revenue and user engagement.
While Microsoft asserts that Bing’s AI-driven search maintains web traffic, it has yet to release any new research backing these claims. For now, the impact on publishers remains an open question.
Bing’s Competitive Outlook
As impressive as Microsoft’s advancements are, it’s important to remember that Google still dominates the search engine market by a significant margin. According to Statista, as of September 2024, Google held a commanding 81.95% of the global search market, with Bing trailing behind at 10.51%. While Bing generative search is a bold and ambitious step forward, it may not be enough to challenge Google’s overwhelming market presence in the short term.
Conclusion: A New Frontier for Search Engines
Bing generative search represents a new frontier in the search engine landscape, leveraging advanced AI to deliver more insightful, user-centric results. However, its success will depend on how well it can balance innovation with transparency, particularly when it comes to publisher traffic and the reliability of AI-generated summaries.
As Microsoft continues to refine this technology, the future of search — powered by AI — looks promising, but also filled with questions. Whether Bing can carve out a larger share of the market remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the evolution of search engines is far from over.
