Microsoft increases Bing chat limit -- again
When Microsoft first gave select users exclusive access to Bing's AI chatbot, some of the chatbot's shortcomings became evident. Microsoft found that long chat sessions confused the model, and as a result the company decreased the chat limit.
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Since then, the tech giant has worked to gradually expand its chat limit and the biggest limit yet is here.
Last week, Bing Chat users began noticing that their chat and session limits had increased to 20 chats per session and 200 total chats per day.
Also: ChatGPT vs Bing: Which is better?
Michael Schechter, vice president, growth and distribution at Microsoft, confirmed via Twitter, that Microsoft was testing the increase over the weekend to see how things went. Then, on Monday, Schechter updated the Tweet thread sharing that "Everything seems to be going well".
👀 we’re testing 20/200 this weekend to see how things go https://t.co/ptD2qhOYGu
— Michael Schechter (@mikeschechter) March 26, 2023
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft corporate vice president and consumer chief marketing office, also cryptically tweeted on Monday about the new chat limit, which can be interpreted to be a confirmation about the arrival of the new limit.
20/200!
— Yusuf Mehdi (@yusuf_i_mehdi) March 27, 2023
You can confirm whether you have the new limit or not by visiting the chatbot, submitting a prompt, and seeing how many more you have to use after that, as seen by the photo below.
When Microsoft first cut the chatbot's limit, it was limited to five chat turns per session and 50 per day. Shortly after, it was expanded to six chat turns per session and 60 total chats per day. Then it was doubled to 10/120, and then 15/150.
Also: How to use the new Bing (and how it's different from ChatGPT)
It's likely we'll to continue seeing a gradual scaling in limits, offering more opportunities for users with every upgrade.
As ZDNET noted previously, the reduced chat limit made it difficult to have a conversation with the chatbot. By cutting the conversation short, the chatbot was rendered useless for most technical prompts (such as writing code or text in a specific format), which is something ChatGPT excels in.
The expanded chat limit is a step toward solving that issue. Normal Bing searches should continue to not count against your chat totals, giving you more bandwidth to hold a meaningful, productive conversation with the chatbot.
Also: I tried Bing's AI chatbot, and it solved my biggest problems with ChatGPT
Microsoft previously noted that long, convoluted chat sessions were not something it was testing for internally, so the public's use and feedback have been useful in learning more about the chatbot.
"In fact, the very reason we are testing the new Bing in the open with a limited set of preview testers is precisely to find these atypical use cases from which we can learn and improve the product," said Microsoft.