Microsoft Stops Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Competitors to Use its Search Engine Bing’s Index
Syed Imran Haider 
Microsoft has reportedly warned some search engines powered by Bing that it will not let them access the company’s search listing if they keep using it as the primary source for their AI tools.
The software giant does not want its competitors to utilize Bing’s search index to facilitate their AI-powered chatbots.
Many digital media reports confirm that Microsoft ordered two unknown Bing-powered search engines that would revoke them from accessing the company’s search data altogether if they do not stop using it with their AI-powered tools. Several digital media channels noted that Microsoft has the right to license its Bing index to other search engines. These include Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and You.com, an AI-powered search engine.
Although some search engines like DuckDuckGo uses a mix of Bing and its web crawler to offer search results, Neeva and You.com also stretch some of their search results from Bing data. It helps conserve some of the resources and time that go hand-in-hand while browsing the entire web.
Bing Search Index
Microsoft seems to draw the line for many others at using Bing’s search data as fodder for AI chatbots. Many sources understanding the situation reveal that Microsoft thinks using Bing’s index this way is a breach of its contract. The company also believes the present scenario may make it dismiss its agreements with search engines accused of abusing this data.
According to these close sources, they are still not aware of which search engine digital media channels have referred to in their report, You.com. DuckDuckGo and others have introduced AI-powered tools through their individual efforts.
In February, DuckDuckGo unveiled an AI-powered tool, DuckAssistant, which offers summaries generated by Artificial Intelligence from sources like Wikipedia and others for specific searches. On the other hand, You.com has an AI-powered chat feature capable of answering users’ questions. Neeva search engine also launched a similar AI-enabled tool that can generate explained summaries.
Microsoft Works with Partners
Microsoft says it is continuously in touch with partners out of compliance as we keep applying the company’s standings across the board. The company anticipates continuing working with those partners directly and offering any data required to find a way forward.
The software giant told the digital media channel – Bloomberg that it is vague whether or not Microsoft has taken any actions against any search engines around. Also, it is notable that the company did not immediately respond to the media channels’ requests for comments regarding this matter. The software company plans to make its search data exclusive to the AI-powered Bing chatbot. It perhaps follows the trend many companies like Google follow to introduce their takes on OpenAI ChatGPT.
The AI research laboratory and services recently rolled out GPT-4, which powers the Bing chatbot. The latest version of OpenAI’s large language model is its most robust version up to now. It can answer numerous questions, generate code, create summaries, write social media posts, and lots more.
