Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of modern life, search and devices, speaks at an event introducing Microsoft’s new AI-powered Bing and Edge at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington on February 7, 2023.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
Microsoft on Wednesday announced the pre-release of its new Bing and Edge apps for iPhone and Android, which include new features such as voice search and access to an AI chatbot.
In the Bing mobile app, users can tap the Bing icon to start a chat session where they can ask a variety of questions via text or voice, according to the release. Answers can be displayed as bullet points, in simplified answers, or in traditional text format. Users will also be able to access updates for Bing through the home page of the Edge mobile app, Microsoft said.
Microsoft also announced AI-powered Bing for Skype on Wednesday. Users can add Microsoft AI to group chats and ask it questions. The chatbot will provide answers for the entire group. People can ask Bing for travel suggestions, such as the weather or recent award ceremonies. As with the Bing mobile app, answers can be displayed as bullet points, simplified answers, or in text format.
Bing in Skype is available in preview worldwide.
On February 7, Microsoft held an event at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, and announced AI-powered updates to its Bing search engine and Edge browser. The updates were initially released on the desktop in a limited preview, which means users get a limited number of search requests during the initial period.
CEO Satya Nadella said AI-powered search is the biggest thing to happen to his company in the nine years he’s been at the helm.
“I haven’t seen anything like this since, I would say, 2007-2008, when the cloud first came out,” Nadella told CNBC’s John Fort in an interview after the Microsoft event.
