The race to bring more AI features to search is escalating, with Microsoft moving forward with additional tools for Bing. Today, the company began previews for Bing generative search, where the top result for a user's query will be an original response compiled by AI. The blog post about Bing generative search showed a few sample results. In addition to the overview statement, Microsoft will provide links to the main sources that the large-language models and small-language models used to create their answer. It will also have a section of related information.

What finally broke me was the recipes. On July 1, I abandoned Google search and committed myself instead to Bing. I made it the default search mode in Chrome. Since then, for the most part, any time I've asked the internet a question, Bing has answered. But also an earnest attempt to figure out how the other half--or the other 6 percent overall, or 24 percent on desktop, or 33 percent in the US, depending on whose numbers you believe--finds their information online. The second-largest search engine by market share in the US, and one of the 50 most visited sites on the internet, according to Alexa rankings. I wanted to know how those people experienced the web, how much of a difference it makes when a different set of algorithms decides what knowledge you should see.

Microsoft is continuing to infuse more AI smarts into its Bing web search, Cortana digital assistant and Office 365 services. At a press and analyst event in San Francisco on December 13, company officials showed off some of the incremental AI-powered updates it is introducing to these services. Microsoft's overriding message was that in addition to providing big-bang AI advances, like its just-unveiled quantum-computing development kit, it also is delivering more "everyday AI" ones, too, by integrating AI-driven tech into its core products and services. At a time when news and other information is under increased scrutiny for bias and intentional fakery, Microsoft is adding multiple viewpoints to Bing search results. Asking Bing "is cholesterol bad?" will result in two different answers to that question.