Some things take a little longer: In 2009, Microsoft introduced its Bing search engine. The declared goal: to break Google’s dominance in the search engine market. The project failed. 14 years later, on February 7, 2023, the group started again. And this time, Google’s seemingly unshakable monopoly may actually be faltering.
Without the enormous advances in generative AI in recent months, which were primarily triggered by ChatGPT, this development would hardly be possible. Almost every day there are new AI tools, improved versions of language models and creative ideas of what is possible with generative AI systems for text, image, video and audio. Many areas such as the creative industries, marketing or education are being overwhelmed by these new tools and opportunities.
And Google, the one-time AI pioneer in the tech industry, is about to fall a little behind. Because what Microsoft announced in February is actually a small revolution in Internet search: Based on OpenAI’s language models, Bing’s new chat function answers queries in the form of short, coherent texts. Similar to ChatGPT, the software also allows questions and engages in discussions. Unlike ChatGPT, the chatbot also links the respective websites on which it found the answers. Start-ups like Neeva and You.com had previously brought AI-supported search engines online. But the combination of the OpenAI language model, in which Microsoft had invested heavily, and Microsoft’s concentrated market power – the new chat function is integrated into the Windows standard browser Edge – brought Bing to the fore.
