chat now available to more users with more visual answers and chat history, as well as third-party developer capability //
Microsoft has now rolled out the Bing Chat for all users that download Microsoft Edge. There is no longer a waitlist. Yusuf Mehdi said that Bing Chat has been used for over half a million chats since its launch three months ago.
What’s new
Bing Chat has four major features:
- The waitlist can be removed by switching from “Limited preview” to “Open preview”
- Rich images and videos can help you get more answers in Bing Chat
- Edge offers a new chat history with persistent chats and a multi-session experience.
- Bing Chats can be exported and shared.
- Bing Chat Developer Access to Build Third Party Apps
Let’s dive a little deeper into these changes.
Bing Chat waiting list is no more
Bing is now an “Open Preview”, removing the “waitlist”. Bing Chat can only be accessed by using Microsoft Edge or the Bing mobile application.
It will only work if you are logged into your Microsoft account in the Edge browser while using Bing Chat.
Bing Chat visual
Bing updated its Bing Chat answers to make them more visually appealing. This was done by improving the layout and formatting, adding richer images and videos, as well as adding charts and graphs where appropriate.
Here’s a screenshot showing the new, more visual Bing Chat for mobile:
Bing Image Creator also supports over 100 languages.
Microsoft has also redesigned Edge in order to present chats better and in a more visual format. The company stated that this includes a streamlined appearance, rounded edges, organized containers, and semi-transparent elements. This is how it looks:
Uploading images to your chat will allow you to ask Bing for answers. Bing Chat will search the internet for content related to your image after you have uploaded it.
Microsoft Edge’s Bing Chat has been enhanced to better summarize long documents in both PDF and HTML formats.
Bing Chat Multi-session Experiences
Microsoft has talked about adding chat histories for for some time now, and now Microsoft is rolling out the feature for Bing Chat. Bing Chat allows you to continue where you left off. You can then go back to earlier chats by using Bing’s history.
On the right, there is a tab called “Recents”, which allows you to pick up where you left off. There is also a tab called “saved”, which shows chats that you have saved to be viewed later.
The Bing Chat interface can be accessed from the Edge sidebar, so that you can continue to chat while browsing the web. This screenshot shows it in action.
Export and share chats
Microsoft will also add the ability to share and export your chats via Bing Chat, Edge sidebar. Your chats can be shared on social media, or moved into Microsoft Word if desired.
This screenshot shows the export and Share icons located at the top-right of the chat window.
Third-party developer’s access
Microsoft announced that developers will soon be able build third-party plugins for the Bing Chat experience. Bing had hinted about this a few weeks back. OpenTable is a good example. In the screenshot below, you will see how OpenTable can help you book and find a restaurant reservation. OpenAI’s ChatGPT supports for this.
Why We Care
It’s exciting to see how Microsoft evolves these AI chat features. Even more exciting is to see how Microsoft may influence the future of search.
Google I/O will be here soon, and it’s exciting to see Microsoft and Google compete with these emerging technologies.
The post Bing chat available to more users and gains visual answers, chat histories, and third-party developer abilities appeared initially on Search Engine Land.