On the heels of Microsoft introducing an all-new AI-powered Bing and Microsoft Edge copilot for the web, the tech giant announced a preview release of the new Bing and Edge mobile apps. The company is also planning to roll out a new chat experience with Skype to enhance social communications.
Feedback on the new capabilities is positive, says the company in a blog, with 71% of testers giving the new Bing a “thumbs up” on the new search and answers capabilities.
The company notes it’s seeing some use cases and queries in preview testing. For example, a father showing his son the new Bing, and together discovered and created sci-fi stories using simple prompts in chat, eventually leading to the development of a video game idea where Bing not only helped create a plot, but also generated the code to input directly into a visual programming tool.
AI-Powered Bing on Mobile Apps
Microsoft is bringing the new AI-powered search engine to Bing and Edge mobile apps to serve users when they are away from their desktop. According to Microsoft, 64% of searches occur on mobile phones.
Available on iOS and Android, the Bing mobile app offers a new look and experience. Tapping the Bing icon at the bottom will invoke a chat session, where users can engage in all the same ways as the desktop version. Users can ask simple or complex questions and receive answers and citations. Users can choose how answers can be displayed – bullet points, text or simplified responses.
In addition, the company is adding one of the preview community’s most requested features – voice. Available on mobile and on desktop, voice search provides more versatility in how users can deliver prompts and receive answers from Bing.
AI-Powered Bing for Skype
Microsoft is also rolling out AI-powered Bing for Skype. More than 36 million people use Skype daily to connect through phone calls and chats across borders and around the world and the new Bing is going to enable some helpful and fun new scenarios and capabilities, says the company.
Microsoft gives the example, “Imagine having a copilot for your friends and family as you stay connected and plan your next get together. Simply add Bing to the group, as you would any Skype contact, and now you can ask Bing to answer questions and provide information for the entire group.”
The new Bing in Skype is available worldwide in preview today. In the future, Microsoft says it hopes to bring this to other communications apps, like Teams.
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