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Starting May 4, Microsoft is making its GPT-4 based Bing chatbot available to everyone and getting rid of the waitlist. All users need now to access the chatbot is to sign into Bing or the Edge browser with their Microsoft account and they’re good to go. The company is also upgrading the chatbot with new features and adding plug-in support in the near future.
The announcement comes two months after Microsoft officially launched the chatbot to the public with a closed beta. The company started experimenting with Bing Chat in February and has been opening up the bot to more and more users gradually, while also keeping the AI on a tight leash to avoid any mishaps.
Bing Chat went haywire during early public testing, but Microsoft has put strict measures in place to keep the bot from having an existential crisis again. Bing Chat users are now restricted to 15 questions per session and a maximum of 150 sessions a day, although as the bot gets more stable, these restrictions are likely to become more relaxed.
As mentioned above, the chatbot is getting more features as well. Microsoft is adding smart features to the bot including image and video results, a new Bing and Edge Actions feature, persistent chat and history as well as plugin support, which is a key addition for developers.
While the company will announce more information on these plugins at its Build conference scheduled for May 23, 2023, we know that it’s already working with OpenTable to enable a plugin for completing restaurant bookings within Bing Chat and with WolframAlpha for generating different data visualisations.
Regardless, the GPT-4 powered Bing seems to be working rather well for Microsoft. The company reports that Bing has exceeded 100 million daily active users and daily installs of the Bing mobile app have increased four times since launch.
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