Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot will let users post images, ask questions about them

Microsoft Corp. is getting rid of the waitlist to try its new OpenAI-based Bing search and chat, and adding features like the ability to request and post images in an effort to sustain its renewed momentum in the market.

Users can search for an image, such as a crocheted teddy bear, for example, and ask Bing, “How do I make this?” The AI tool then suggests “how to crochet” websites and other kinds of craft projects to explore. The visual search feature will be available in the coming weeks to months, Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft vice president, said in an interview. It uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 system, which enables so-called multimodal features that blend text and images. While OpenAI announced that feature in March, it has offered few examples so far.

Other new Bing features are coming sooner, such as the ability to use third-party services like OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha through Bing chat and get answers that include videos and charts, Mehdi said. At a Manhattan demo, Bing representatives showed off some features in hands-on demonstrations, showing how a user can type in, say, “Find me a dinner reservation for two in New York City tonight,” and get a link to the reservation service OpenTable. 

Microsoft upended the search market in February when it unveiled a complete overhaul of Bing, incorporating OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and offering the possibility of renewed competition in a market dominated for years by Alphabet Inc.’s Google. According to Mehdi, the new software has hosted half a billion chat sessions in the past 90 days. The move pushed Google to introduce its own Bard AI tools, efforts it largely kept within its own labs until Microsoft threatened the company’s highly profitable ad business.