Microsoft’s Bing search engine has introduced voice support for its chatbot powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology. The new feature allows users to talk to Bing using natural language instead of typing their queries and receiving text-based responses. The update is now available on Edge for PCs, and the chatbot supports English, Japanese, French, German, and Mandarin at the moment, with more languages being added in the future. Bing Chat can also read the responses back to the user using text-to-speech technology. The feature was previously available on Bing’s AI chatbot for mobile apps but now extends to desktop users. To access it, simply tap on the mic icon in the Bing Chat box.
Microsoft’s decision to introduce voice support comes shortly after its announcement that it’s discontinuing the standalone Cortana app for Windows, which serves as a voice assistant. While users will still have access to “powerful productivity features in Windows and Edge, which have increased AI capabilities,” the company mentioned Bing Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot, which uses artificial intelligence to generate content within the company’s apps, as the primary solutions for voice assistance moving forward.
One of the significant advantages of Bing Chat’s voice support is that it provides an opportunity for hands-free interaction with the search engine. Users can now ask Bing questions without the need to type, which can be particularly useful for multitasking scenarios such as cooking while looking for a recipe or driving and trying to find a particular destination. The addition of voice support also allows for a more natural conversation between the user and the AI-powered chatbot, providing a more human-like feel to the interaction.
In addition to its practical applications, the implementation of voice support in Bing Chat is also a significant step forward for natural language processing (NLP) and conversational AI. These technologies enable machines to understand and communicate with humans in a more human-like manner, allowing for more seamless and effective interactions in various settings.
While Bing Chat’s voice support is still in its early stages, it has the potential to transform how people interact with search engines in the future. Giving users the option to use their voice to ask questions, receive answers clearly, and navigate through different websites and search results, makes for an exciting and efficient user experience. And as voice-user interfaces become more ubiquitous, Bing Chat’s voice feature may become more critical in ensuring users don’t get left behind.
As the Bing Chat voice support rolls out, it will be interesting to see how it performs. Users will be assessing how accurately the AI-powered chatbot understands and responds to their queries, as well as how fast it can produce an answer using the technology. Having access to voice support further establishes Bing as a viable player in the growing voice assistance market. And with more languages and features being added in the future, Bing Chat seems primed to evolve into more than just a search engine.
Overall, Bing’s launch of voice-based search is a step in the right direction for Microsoft, which has been striving to be a leader in the AI and machine learning scene. And as their technology continues to advance, it’s likely that Bing Chat’s voice support will become even more integral for those looking for a fast, efficient, and conversational way to search the internet. Regardless of what the future holds, this move will undoubtedly create waves that extend across the entire voice assistance industry.
