Microsoft Bing AI now available to access on Google Chrome

When Microsoft introduced generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to Bing, its search engine saw a steep surge in its adoption, so much so that it startled Google to expedite the launch of its own AI service. Called Bing AI Chat, the chatbot uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model (LLM) to deliver AI-generated results, but only the users of Bing Chat’s dedicated app and Microsoft Edge browser can access it. That restriction is finally going away. Microsoft has officially rolled out support for Bing AI Chat on Google Chrome after weeks of testing on different platforms.

“Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise are now supported in the Chrome desktop browser (using the latest Stable Channel update) for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Support for other browsers on desktop and mobile is forthcoming,” said Microsoft in the release notes published late last week.

Google Chrome users spotted Bing AI support last month, but there was no official announcement from Microsoft. That sparked the speculation that it could be possible because of some third-party add-on. Moreover, access to Bing AI Chat on Google Chrome was available only to a few people. But the latest announcement is a welcome one as it expands the availability of one of Microsoft’s most powerful tools to a wider audience.

And even though Bing AI Chat is now accessible on just Edge and Chrome, it is still a big deal. That is because Google Chrome is the most popular browser in the world. Adding support for it will make Bing AI Chat available to a lot more people who never turned to Edge or Bing AI Chat’s app. Moreover, Microsoft said it will add more browsers to the support list of Bing AI Chat, and that would finally make the company’s high-stake generative AI chatbot accessible to even more users.

Meanwhile, Google Bard, the company’s own generative AI chatbot, does not have an app of its own yet. It is available on the web, accessible through any browser on both desktop and mobile, but it is no match for Bing AI Chat currently. Some reports even suggested Bard is not up to expectations, especially with Bing AI Chat and ChatGPT in the picture.