I gave up using Google for a month in favor of using ChatGPT to ask Bing all of my queries because I wanted to experience what it would be like to live in the future. And to be completely honest, I'm overjoyed to be returning to Google after spending weeks attempting to convince a chatbot to do what I want.
With ChatGPT, I discovered that, at least for me, Google continues to be a more effective and practical information-finding tool than Bing. In fact, when it came to digging up essential information, even the ordinary Bing search functioned better than Bing with ChatGPT.
This is crucial because Microsoft's decision to integrate Bing with ChatGPT feels like a major swing in an effort to elevate the company's underperforming search engine. of a fresh round of innovation marked by chatbots that resemble artificial intelligence creeping into every service we use.
When I went to Seattle in February 2023 to attend Microsoft's ChatGPT event, Satya Nadella, the company's CEO, declared that "this technology is going to change pretty much every software sector." By integrating ChatGPT technology into not only Bing but also Edge, Teams, and the company's collection of productivity products via Microsoft 365 Copilot, it is clear that Microsoft is completely committed to that ambition. Google is utilizing this by launching its own Google Bard AI search chatbot to compete.
Naturally, there has already been pushback, with Elon Musk and other leaders urging ChatGPT and Bard to stop training AI after the most recent version, ChatGPT-4. After using this chatbot for a month, I can see why Microsoft and OpenAI are motivated to make more advancements. After all, this is the same engine that powers Bing.
Instead of describing my entire month of searching using ChatGPT, I'll focus on some specific instances of how effectively (or poorly) it performed so you can get a better picture of what this technology is capable of and where it still falls short.
If you haven't already, I suggest you give Bing with ChatGPT a try now that Microsoft has made it available to everyone. Doing so will make the key gimmick obvious: When you submit a search term into a chatbot that has been trained using LLM (long language models) datasets, a conversational answer will be produced in place of a list of websites.
Although Bing with ChatGPT gives the impression that it is replying to your queries in a human-like manner, it actually uses algorithms to put together phrases that sound reasonable based on the information that Bing has found.
Even when it does, there is no guarantee that the information it reports will be true because it doesn't always produce writing that reads like it was written by a human. You can see how comparable issues are faced by rivals like Google Bard in our comparison of Bing with ChatGPT and Google Bard.
But when I gave up using Google for a month and started using Bing with ChatGPT instead, it was clear to me that Google had won the comparison between Bing with ChatGPT and regular old Google by a wide margin.
Here's a particularly current and pertinent illustration: To support Chris Pine's budding acting career, some friends and I decided to watch Paramount's "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" this weekend. I searched online for the greatest showing.
I used ChatGPT to ask Bing whether any Alamo Drafthouses in the Bay Area were showing the D&D movie because I knew we wanted to watch it there if at all feasible. Bing responded negatively, which was understandable, so I followed up with a straightforward question: "What is showing at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission [our local Alamo]?"
My search journey came to an abrupt end at this point. Bing just remarked when he returned "What movies are showing today at the Alamo Drafthouse? I'm not sure. For further information, you can visit their website."
Very rational and obvious, but not particularly useful. Should I have avoided using Bing with ChatGPT and simply checked the Alamo Drafthouse website first? It's a little disappointing that I wasted time talking to a chatbot for two questions and got nowhere.
But what really makes this seem like a waste of time is knowing that I could have found the answer in a matter of seconds if I had simply used Google.com (or the Google Omnibox that serves as my Chrome address bar).
To demonstrate this, I opened Google and entered the same search term that Bing picked up from my previous query ("Alamo Drafthouse Cinema New Mission movies"), and then, BOOM, I found showtimes at the top of my Google search results, beautifully arranged alongside a link to the theater's website, the phone number, and images of the theatre, among other things.
The fact that Bing produces a page of search results with showtimes that closely mimics Google's when I conduct the identical search query on its out-of-date platform (the one without a chatbot powered by ChatGPT to talk with) is even more damaging. In light of this, even while Bing is still at least as competitive as Google in terms of search, the addition of ChatGPT (at least so far) seems to have made Bing less proficient at handling particular types of requests. Typical questions like "Is X movie screening at my local theatre?
Similar circumstances occurred earlier this week when I had to quickly locate a nearby, open auto window repair shop. I had to find a shop that could fix the front passenger-side glass of my automobile the same day because it had been broken the previous night.
With ChatGPT, I initially asked Bing, "What is the greatest vehicle glass repair service in Oakland?" All that Bing returned was a list of the companies it had found on Yelp. It was the absolute minimum I asked for, so thanks, Bing.
I asked Bing "Who can take my car today?" because I wanted the automobile fixed immediately. Bing informed me that it couldn't locate the solution and requested my permission to look up the shops' phone numbers so I could call them directly and enquire. Thank you, Bing. It was thoughtful of the chatbot to ask, even if I would have done it anyhow and possibly more quickly.
I ultimately made calls, obtained quotes, and had my car picked up the following morning. Yet, I couldn't help but believe that using Bing with ChatGPT made my search take up more time rather than less time. The same question ("What is the greatest vehicle glass repair shop in Oakland?") was entered into Google today to confirm.
I almost immediately got a list of links—mostly to different stores—along with a map indicating their locations, which was far more useful than what Bing plus ChatGPT had provided me.
Nonetheless, the majority of Google's search results were large, eye-catching advertisements, indicating that some businesses are paying a lot of money there to advertise. Even though I didn't have to scroll very far to get what I needed, I can't deny that it was annoying to have to sift through all these paid Google advertising in order to try and find the information I was looking for.
I, therefore, have nothing particularly complimentary to say about Google or Bing in this regard. Although Bing's chatbot is getting ads that appear incredibly unpleasant, Microsoft's AI-powered search engine can't yet match Google for ad density, but that's going to change soon.
All I can tell is that even though I found Google's search results to be cluttered with adverts, I was still able to find the information I needed faster and with less effort than when I was using ChatGPT in conjunction with Bing.
Outlook
After a month without Google, I must admit that Bing with ChatGPT isn't currently able to compete.
The AI-like chatbot occasionally provides very helpful or perceptive responses, but most of the time (at least in my experience), it doesn't improve Bing in any way. Sometimes it can even be detrimental, giving responses that are inaccurate or misleading in a way that a search engine that is more simple wouldn't.
While OpenAI, ChatGPT's parent firm, seems to be working 24/7 to enhance its technology and integrate it into other businesses, the pace of AI research is too fast for me to keep up with. It's possible that by the time you read this, Bing with ChatGPT will be much smarter and more useful than I found it to be, maybe enhancing your daily life in unexpected ways.
That's a good fantasy to have since, despite the warnings, there will undoubtedly be a huge race for AI weapons in 2023.