In February, Microsoft announced that Bing AI is using OpenAI’s ChatGPT under the hood to bring chatbot to its search engine and Microsoft Edge on Windows 11 and 10. Microsoft has confirmed that it has made several improvements to Bing AI to make it more accurate and capable than ChatGPT or GPT-3.5.
After a recent update to Edge, we’ve seen Bing AI ads in the browser’s address bar. This strategy is designed to draw attention to the service and encourage users to explore the AI-driven features Bing has to offer instead of using Bard.
Microsoft has begun experimenting with showing more ads or recommendations that appear when users visit bard.google.com, the homepage of Google’s ChatGPT-like Bard. The popup can be distracting and slightly annoying, but can be ignored if you ignore it.
When Bard is open in the browser, the Microsoft Edge address bar pop-up will appear asking users to “Compare Answers to AI-Based Bing”.
By clicking the popup, users can view Bing AI in a split-screen mode next to Bard, with Bard on the left and Bing AI on the right. Microsoft wants to encourage users to compare the results, as it believes Bing AI outperforms Google Bard.
However, it is impossible to remove the “Bing” icon, which appears in the address bar when Bard is open in the tab. While the company hopes to lure users to Bing AI by competing directly with Google Bard, these ads can be considered intrusive and may leave users feeling overwhelmed or annoyed.
Google also aggressively promotes its services, as does Microsoft
It’s important to note that Microsoft isn’t alone in this approach, as Google is also dabbling in similar tactics.
Microsoft’s strategy mirrors Google’s past actions, with the search engine giant showing Chrome ads in Gmail when users accessed the email service through Edge. Google is also known to promote Chrome through ads in Google Search when visited with Edge, demonstrating an even more aggressive marketing approach.
In conclusion, while Microsoft’s decision to show ads targeting Google Bard in the Edge browser might upset some users, it’s critical to acknowledge that Google has employed similar practices.
