Microsoft has started rolling out Bing Chat to other browsers like Google Chrome so users no longer are restricted to using Edge to access it. This comes around five months after Microsoft officially unveiled Bing Chat, which is powered by OpenAI.
Currently, Bing Chat is available on other browsers like Chrome through an A/B test so not everyone will be able to access it. Microsoft is pushing a popup on the Windows 10 and Windows 11 taskbar for eligible users asking them to try the new Bing Chat on Google Chrome.
In terms of features, Bing Chat on Chrome covers all the major ones. Microsoft still gives users three options- Creative, Balanced and Precise to choose from when using the chatbot.
Furthermore, Bing Chat also support visual search for images as well as voice search, both of which were recently added to Bing Chat. Microsoft also allows users to toggle between Dark and Light mode, although for me the feature was replaced with themes (which did not work).
While the arrival of Bing Chat on Chrome and other browsers is welcomed, the experience still lacks a few features that are available on Edge. This includes the number of queries, which is limited to five instead of the 30 queries available on Microsoft Edge.
Also, Bing Chat on Chrome allows users to input up to 2,000 characters as opposed to 4,000 on Microsoft Edge. This combined with Bing constantly reminding users to switch to Edge, may push some users to stick to Edge when using Bing Chat.
It is currently not clear how Microsoft plans to market Bing Chat to a wider audience. The company may release new features to Edge first, making users switch to Edge for a superior experience.
We will hopefully know more about Microsoft's plans for Bing Chat once the chatbot is generally available to everyone.
Update: 5:12 pm Eastern time: Microsoft's Director of Communications Caitlin Roulston has confirmed in a statement sent to Neowin that Bing Chat's expansion to Chrome and Safari is not available yet to all users:
We are flighting access to Bing Chat in Safari and Chrome to select users as part of our testing on other browsers. We are excited to expand access to even more users once our standard testing procedures are complete
8 Comments - Add comment