Users flock to sign up for Microsoft’s new AI powered Bing, Google behind the power curve yet again

Over one million users have signed up to try out the new ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine over the past 48 hours, marking another victory for Microsoft in the AI chatbot wars.

It looks as if Microsoft is setting the table for a tasty comeback as the frontrunner in the AI chatbot race against Google as more than one million people joined the waitlist to try out the new ChatGPT-powered Bing in the first 48 hours it opened.

“Could this be the biggest comeback of all time @bing?” one user posted on Bing’s official Twitter page.

Google’s own competing AI chatbot search engine, Bard, has been mostly panned by viewers worldwide since its public reveal.

1 million and counting! We can't wait to see where this journey takes us.

undefined Bing (@bing) February 9, 2023

The two tech giants faced off in dueling press conferences this week with Microsoft as the clear winner after Google’s AI chatbot Bard returned an incorrect answer during a live streaming introductory demonstration.

The same promotional video was also posted on Google's Twitter account in the days leading up to the live event, which Google abruptly cut off after it realized the mistake.

Google’s Bard is still in the testing phase and is said to be released to the public sometime in March.

Currently, there is no sign up or waitlist for the public to try out Bard, which puts Microsoft even further ahead in the PR game.

Microsoft VP and Chief Consumer Marketing Officer Yusuf Mehdi tweeted the company was “humbled and energized” by the one million person milestone.

Presently, the new Bing is only available as a limited desktop preview where users can try out sample queries, according to Microsoft.

Both Bard and Bing have been touting the promise of providing users with a more conversational and relevant search experience.

The demo pages for both Bard and Bing look fairly similar to one another, presenting answers to the user inside a floating box.

Bing's look may be more appealing to users though, as the search is structured with separate boxes for the Q&A sections, alternating colors just as if you were having a conversation with a friend in a social messaging app.

Microsoft also stated on their official blog, they plan to rollout a mobile preview very soon.

Another factor keeping Microsoft in the lead is that the new Bing search engine will not operate as a stand-alone search feature.

Microsoft will update its Edge browser as an AI “co-pilot,” bringing together “search, browsing and chat into one unified experience you can invoke from anywhere on the web.”

An “Edge Sidebar” will function similarly to the ChatGPT available to the public now, allowing the user to not only chat with the AI bot for summaries and key takeaways on results, but ask it to compose content – such as a social media post – to a person's chosen writing style and tone.

Both companies claim search results will not only provide more complete answers, but will be thought-provoking and inspirational.

As a clever, or possible sneaky, boost to sign ups, Microsoft is offering to move people up the waiting list (although, with no guarantees) if they make Microsoft programs the default on their desktops.