Ray Saitz: Welcome to the Bing AI revolution

For many years the internet’s tech giants have been waging a war you may not have known about. It’s over which internet browser and search site will gain world dominance, and things are heating up considerably as artificial intelligence has become a key weapon.

Your internet browser is the free software program on your computer or mobile device that converts the digital information streaming over the internet into the websites, videos, and social media sites you see.

The most popular browsers are Google Chrome, the most-used in the world, Microsoft’s Edge, which comes pre-installed with Windows, and Mozilla’s Firefox. Safari is only available for iPads and iPhones but any other browser can be installed on any Windows, Apple, or Android device or computer with no conflicts.

To find out which browser you’re using, visit What Is My Browser (https://www.whatismybrowser.com).

The web browser is not as important on your phone or tablet because dedicated apps, such as the Facebook, email, or Instagram apps, connect directly to those entities.

But on your computer the browser is essential for using the internet and each giant tech company wants you to choose their browser as the computer’s default. Google also wants you to use its Google search engine as your sole search site, whereas Microsoft would prefer that you use its search tool, called Bing, to find websites and information.

The reason is mainly financial. Your browser and the search website you use can keep a record of your searches, interests, websites visited, and social media feeds, and this data can be used to place the ads you see on websites. How valuable is that data? Google pays Mozilla over $400 million (US) a year for making Google the default search website of the Firefox browser.

However, Microsoft has just made a decisive advance in the browser and search war by making Bing the first search engine powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and heralding a revolution in how you search and get the results.

In another decisive move, to use Bing AI you must be using Microsoft’s Edge browser and be logged in with a free Microsoft account.

To try out Bing AI you’ll need to install Edge on your mobile device or Mac computer. Edge is pre-installed on Windows computers and, besides a desktop icon, it’s in the list of programs you access by clicking the Start button.

Visit the Bing search home page (https://www.bing.com) where, after you sign in, you’ll be able to search by typing a simple or complicated question about anything. Click on Try Me to get a demonstration or Learn More for a detailed discussion of the new Bing AI along with many useful FAQs.

But it gets better. At the far right of the toolbar at the top of Edge you should see a small blue letter “b” inside a dialogue circle. If not, go into Settings and, in the Sidebar section, turn on Discover.

Click the little blue “b” and Discover will open as a sidebar and display your choices. Click on Chat and type a question about anything. Your search result will be a summary of info found on the internet with links to the sites.

Select Compose and Discover will answer your question by writing a composition in paragraph, email, or blog format, with a tone ranging from professional to informational or funny. I asked it what is the best variety of carrots and got a lengthy, well written, discussion of the topic.

Choose Insights and Discover’s AI will give you reams of information about the topic or company behind the website you are currently viewing.

It’s difficult to summarize the Bing AI revolution, such as generating images from search terms, but the PC Mag website has a detailed article about using Bing AI (https://tinyurl.com/4tpfc3x5).

Apparently, Google has been completely flummoxed by Microsoft’s AI chatbot revolution and is rushing to get its own version, called Magi, online as soon as possible. Get ready for a major new skirmish in the battle for browser and search dominance.

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