Microsoft has announced that Bing is receiving Deep Search, a substantial enhancement to Bing’s web search capabilities, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4. According to Microsoft, Deep Search is a new feature in Microsoft Bing that allows users to get more reliable and comprehensive answers to their search queries, no matter how complex the topic.
For instance, Deep Search works by enriching web indexing and ranking systems with OpenAI’s GPT-4 to better understand the intent of search queries by expanding them to more comprehensive descriptions. This technology translates user queries into detailed descriptions that more accurately capture user intent and is particularly suited to disambiguating queries with multiple potential meanings.
Moreover, Microsoft noted that Deep Search is not a replacement for Bing’s existing Web Search but an extension allowing users to explore deeper into the web, providing results that would not appear in typical search results.
How Does Deep Search Function?
In its blog post, the company showcased the new Deep Search function by inputting the query: “How do points systems work in Japan” if a user is looking into loyalty programs in different countries. After taking the query, Deep Search would take 30 seconds to complete and expand it into the following:
“Provide an explanation of how various loyalty card programs work in Japan, including the benefits, requirements, and limitations of each. Include examples of popular loyalty cards from different categories, such as convenience stores, supermarkets, and restaurants. Show a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of using loyalty cards versus other payment methods in Japan, including current rewards and benefits. Highlight the most popular services and participating merchants.”
Furthermore, Bing may expand this search to include descriptions of things like loyalty card programs in Japan, best loyalty cards for travellers in Japan, comparison of loyalty programs by category in Japan, redeeming loyalty cards in Japan and managing loyalty points with phone apps as Deep Search’s GPT-4 attempts to find “all possible intents” for a search query.
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How Does Deep Search Benefit Users?
First and foremost, Microsoft noted that while it takes Bing 1 second to respond to a regular search query, a Deep Search only takes 30 seconds, even though it provides much more comprehensive results. For instance, with the query highlighted earlier, Deep Search will expand the description, allowing you to explain your intent better than you could with just a few words.
In addition, when a search query is ambiguous, Deep Search searches for all possible intents and creates a comprehensive description for each so you can choose the right one. That’s because Deep Search factorises how well a topic matches your search query, whether there’s an appropriate level of detail, and the page’s credibility, novelty and popularity.
Microsoft stated in its blog post: “By doing this, Deep Search can find results that cover different aspects of my query, even if they don’t explicitly include the original keywords. Regular searches on Bing already consider millions of web pages for each search, and Deep Search does ten times that to find results that are more informative and specific than the ones that rank higher in normal search.”
Lastly, Microsoft noted that Deep Search is optional and can take up to 30 seconds, so it’s not viable for all search queries or all users. Users who don’t want a more comprehensive answer can get the regular Bing search to display results immediately.
Microsoft’s Generative AI Plans For 2024
Besides Deep Search, Microsoft has announced its generative AI plans for 2024 by expanding access to more AI features powered by GPT-4. Listed below are the features Microsoft are planning to enhance next year:
- Copilot AI Assistance with GPT-4 Turbo: The most prominent plan for Microsoft in 2024 is the integration of GPT-4 Turbo in Copilot to provide advanced features to handle complex and tedious tasks. It is currently under testing, and GPT-4 Turbo may be released sometime early next year.
- Image Creation with DALL-E 3: Besides GPT-4 Turbo, Microsoft plans to enable the latest DALL-E 3 model for Copilot users to create high-quality images that closely align with their prompts.
- Inline Compose for Microsoft Edge: Microsoft is also planning an upcoming addition to Microsoft Edge with the Inline Compose rewrite menu designed to simplify writing across most websites.
- Multi-Modal Bing Image Search with GPT-4 Vision: In a groundbreaking move, Microsoft will combine the power of GPT-4 with Bing image search and web search data to create a Multi-Modal feature with a search foundation aimed to improve image understanding and provide a more holistic AI experience upon user request.
- Code Interpreter: Although this feature is currently in the feedback phase, Microsoft plans to release a Code interpreter sometime next year to simplify complex tasks such as calculations, coding, data analysis, visualisation, and mathematics.
With Microsoft already laying out its groundwork for AI features for 2024, the topic surrounding AI will continue to dominate headlines next year. For all the latest news regarding this genre or others such as Gaming and Tech, follow our Facebook and Instagram social media pages for daily updates of circulating news across the web.