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All the major Bing Chat and AI announcements from Microsoft Build 2023
With the release of Bing Chat and its partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft has managed to place itself at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) and is outperforming tech rivals such as Google. As a result, most of the announcements made at the Microsoft Build 2023 developer conference relate to AI.
Unsurprisingly, many of these updates focus on AI-powered Bing, including features that expand Bing Chat's functionalities and reach across Microsoft's platforms.
Also: The best AI chatbots: ChatGPT and other noteworthy alternatives
However, there was much more than just Bing Chat news. Microsoft spread its generative AI technology across many of its platforms and even created a couple of new ones.
With so many AI announcements, it is easy to lose track of what new features are coming, and how you can take advantage of them.
To make that task easier, we've rounded-up some of the major AI announcements at Build, as well as some of the ones made leading up to the event.
Bing Chat's new features (including an integration with ChatGPT)
The biggest and most exciting news of the event is that the new Bing will support ChatGPT as its default search experience.
As a result, ChatGPT will no longer be limited to information prior to 2021. Rather, ChatGPT will be able to access the web and have information of current events through the use of Bing's search engine.
Another positive outcome is that ChatGPT will now be able to include citations in its responses, allowing users to learn more about their prompt.
The feature will roll-out as to ChatGPT Plus subscribers immediately, but will soon be available to everyone for free through the use of a Bing plug-in.
Also: Microsoft just supercharged ChatGPT with Bing's AI-powered search
For the past couple of weeks, Microsoft has been on a hot streak of Bing Chat upgrades, so naturally Build had to include some too.
Last week, OpenAI rolled out 70-plus plugins to its ChatGPT Plus subscribers. These plugins allow users to use third-party tools to expand the abilities of the chatbot, including accessing the internet.
At Build, Microsoft announced that it will adopt the same open plugin standard as OpenAI, which will allow for interoperability across ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
Also: Microsoft embraces OpenAI's ChatGPT plugin standard
This update allows developers to use one platform to build plugins that work across multiple platforms, including ChatGPT, Bing, and Copilot.
As part of the expansion, new plugins will be arriving to Bing Chat in addition to the previously announced OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha. You can expect Instacart, Kayak, Klarna, Redfin, and Zillow to arrive to the Bing ecosystem soon.
Another major upgrade is that Bing Chat, as well as the newly announced third-party plugins, will be making an appearance in Windows through the new Windows Copilot.
Also: Microsoft adding more AI smarts to Windows 11 via Copilot and Dev Home
In the leadup to Build, Microsoft dropped several major Bing Chat updates, including chat history, an export tool, and the removal of a chat limit and chat turns.
Microsoft Edge updates
In March, Microsoft revealed that its popular Microsoft 365 applications would be receiving an AI upgrade through the introduction of Microsoft Copilot.
At Build, Microsoft announced that Microsoft 365 Copilot will be natively integrated into Edge -- with the aim of pushing the Edge browsing experience up another level.
By combining your data in Microsoft Graph with the power of large language models and Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft 365 Copilot will be able to assist you with more tasks, such as staying up to date with emails and more.
Microsoft Edge is also getting a more modern, sleek look, such as rounded corners and translucent backgrounds.
Also: Microsoft Edge gets AI-powered upgrades and these other new features
The long-awaited Microsoft Edge Workspaces will be moving out of preview and will become generally available to everyone in the next few months.
Windows 11 AI integrations (including a new Copilot)
Microsoft introduced Windows Copilot at Build, which will bring AI to Windows 11.
Through Windows Copilot, users will be able to get AI assistance from Bing Chat and first- and third-party plugins to increase overall productivity.
Accessing the Copilot will be simple to do and only requires the tapping of a button on your taskbar.
Also: Microsoft adding more AI smarts to Windows 11 via Copilot and Dev Home
Once activated, the Copilot sidebar stays open across all of your apps, programs, and windows to act as your personal assistant.
AI in the Microsoft Store
The Microsoft Store on Windows is getting an AI revamp with new features sprinkled throughout the store.
For starters, the store will feature an AI Hub, which will be a curated section that features the best AI experiences built by developers and Microsoft.
These experiences will include applications that boost productivity, including activities such as building a resume, planning trips, and creating presentations.
Also: The Microsoft Store will help curate AI tools for you now
Another feature coming soon is AI-generated review summaries that will take customer reviews and provide concise summaries, helping users make better buying decisions.
Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft announced a brand-new platform at Build that's geared towards developers called Microsoft Fabric.
Fabric will serve as a unified platform for analytics that includes tools for all of your data needs, including data engineering, integration, warehousing, science, real-time analytics, and more, according to Microsoft.
Developers will be able to more readily access insights into their data by harnessing the power of generative AI.
Developer tools
Microsoft Build is a developer's conference, so it's fitting that so many announcements from the event were geared towards developers. There were also new announcements made exclusively for developers.
An example is Dev Home, a tool designed to ease the workload for developers both in Windows 11 and in the Microsoft Store.
Other announcements included the public preview of GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps and the general availability of Azure Deployment Environments.
Also: Microsoft announces Azure tools to help developers deploy complex environments and secure their apps