Microsoft aims for AI-powered version of Bing - The Information

FILE PHOTO: A Microsoft logo is seen on an office building in New York City in this July 28, 2015 file photo. Microsoft Corp announced more big cuts to its smartphone business on Wednesday. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

(Reuters) -Microsoft Corp is in the works to launch a version of its search engine Bing using the artificial intelligence behind OpenAI-launched chatbot ChatGPT, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the plans.

Microsoft could launch the new feature before the end of March, and hopes to challenge Alphabet-owned search engine Google,the San Francisco-based technology news website said in a report.

Microsoft said in a blog post last year that it planned to integrate image-generation software from OpenAI, DALL-E 2, into Bing.

OpenAI and Microsoft declined to comment.

Microsoft had in 2019 backed San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company OpenAI, offering $1 billion in funding. The two had formed a multi-year partnership to develop artificial intelligence supercomputing technologies on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing service.

OpenAI made its latest creation ChatGPT chatbot available for free public testing on Nov. 30. The chatbot is a software application designed to mimic human-like conversation based on user prompts and can respond to a large range of questions while imitating human speaking styles.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal and in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)