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Microsoft has announced major updates to Bing search, which will now include AI-generated results for your queries.
The AI race is heating up, with every company trying to integrate AI into their products. It wasn’t long ago when Google introduced AI into search results, and now Microsoft is following suit by adding generative AI-powered search results to Bing.
Previously, when you searched for something on Bing, like “What is a spaghetti western?” you would get standard search results with information from different websites. But now, with the introduction of generative AI search results, you’ll get an AI-generated answer created by large and small language models that have processed millions of sources. This answer will also include links to the websites used to create it. So, if you want more details, you can check out the original sources.
The best part is that Bing isn’t forcing AI answers on you. The AI-powered search results are displayed on a dynamically created webpage, with the regular search results on the right and the AI-generated answer on the left. However, the downside is that the search results page is now more cluttered than before.
It would be better if Microsoft offered an option to turn off AI answers completely for those who prefer traditional search results. They might introduce such an option in the future, as they’re currently testing this feature with a small group of users and gathering feedback.
How Good are AI-Generated Search Results?
Whenever you search for something online, like how to fix your broken computer, you’re looking for advice from an expert, not an AI. That’s the main issue with AI search results. While they can be helpful for simple searches, problems arise when you need answers to complex questions that require expert knowledge.
There have been plenty of reports on Reddit and elsewhere about how Google’s AI overviews are completely useless. Luckily, Google offers an option to turn off AI overviews, so you can avoid those AI-generated answers. It’ll be interesting to see how AI integration in Bing search performs, especially compared to Google’s AI. It’s too early to say for sure.
Will Bing’s Generative Search Impact Website Traffic?
One of the main concerns whenever a search engine starts showing AI-generated search results is how badly it will impact websites’ direct traffic. When AI can scour millions of websites on the internet and provide you with an answer at the top of the search results, why would you ever visit the website the AI got the answer from?
While big publications might be able to withstand the impact of AI answers, smaller websites are the ones really suffering from AI integration into search results. Microsoft is aware of this issue and is closely monitoring how AI-generated search results are affecting website traffic. They’ve mentioned that early reports suggest websites are getting similar traffic even after the AI integration, but it’s important to note that this feature is currently only available to a small number of users. It will be interesting to see how website traffic changes when the feature becomes more widely available.
