Microsoft spent two decades preparing to pivot Bing. Then ChatGPT happened.

Using AI, Microsoft might finally mount a challenge to Google's dominance in search. Earlier this month, Microsoft unveiled the new Bing search engine, which uses artificial intelligence to not just give users links, but also to provide answers to questions. Bing can respond, for example, to a query to create a spreadsheet of a company's revenue for the past five years or to check if a certain-size futon will fit in a specified vehicle. Since Bing's update, Google has come out with its own competitor, Bard. "We've been steadily focused on Bing and we've been working. We've been at it for the last two decades or so," said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president at Microsoft, over a Microsoft Teams video chat last week.