Microsoft explains Bing Chat’s bizarre behavior — outlines plans to improve AI
A recent blog post details the lessons Microsoft has learned since launching the new Bing in preview.
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What you need to know
Microsoft showed thenew Bing powered by ChatGPTearlier this month. Since the announcement, Bing has seen a dramatic surge in interest, includingmillions of people signing upto try the revamped search engine in preview. With the AI tool in the hands of the general public, there are many lessons to be learned, according to Microsoft.
Ablog postfrom the tech giant lists lessons learned by the company since announcing the new Bing and rolling it out to testers.
Testing of the new Bing has seen mixed results. Microsoft reported positive feedback for the search engine’s summarized answers. 71% of feedback received on those types of answers was marked as positive by users.
The chat feature has proven popular. Microsoft reported “healthy engagement” with the new way to interact with Bing. Unfortunately, that chat feature has also generatedworrying responses, including the chatbot confessing love for a user, accusing a person of lying, and repeating phrases in a loop.
Microsoft is aware of these issues and discussed how having AI in the hands of the public is an important part of teaching artificial intelligence models:
“The only way to improve a product like this, where the user experience is so much different than anything anyone has seen before, is to have people like you using the product and doing exactly what you all are doing,” said Microsoft.
“We know we must build this in the open with the community; this can’t be done solely in the lab. Your feedback about what you’re finding valuable and what you aren’t, and what your preferences are for how the product should behave, are so critical at this nascent stage of development.”
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Some weak points of the new Bing have been in the spotlight, including the tool struggling to keep up to date with timely data, such as sports scores. I ran into this issue myself when Bing claimed that Patrick Mahomes had won one Super Bowl and two Super Bowls within the same response (he had won his second the night before).
Microsoft plans to strengthen Bing in this area and is “planning to 4x increase the grounding data [Microsoft sends] to the model.” The company is also looking into a toggle to have Bing lean more toward being creative or precise.
Microsoft found that extended use of the chat feature can lead to repetitive answers and unprovoked responses. Many users have reported these types of issues online. Microsoft explained why it believes these issues occur:
Microsoft briefly discussed new features that it’s considering for Bing as well, including booking flights and sending emails.
Windows Central take
While the new Bing is in preview, interest in the search engine is at an all-time high. Microsoft needs to get ahead of the curve when it comes to responding to issues. AI gets better exponentially, assuming it’s trained correctly. But while the new Bing learns from real-world usage, Microsoft needs to be aggressive in responding to feedback.
The fact that Microsoft shared its blog post and thanked people for their feedback is a promising sign. It shows that Microsoft is aware of people’s concerns and is working to address them. We’ll have to see how the perception of the search engine changes in the coming weeks and months. Like artificial intelligence as a whole, news surrounding Bing develops quickly.
Google lost $100 billion in market capwhen it was discovered that an ad for its ChatGPT competitor Bard made mistakes within an advertisement. Bing, which hadsimilar factual issues, needs to be focused on heavily by Microsoft to avoid similar pitfalls and repercussions.
Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He’s covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean’s journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.
