Microsoft threatens to strip competing chatbots of Bing data

Microsoft is considering restricting access to Bing data for competing chatbots. The AI ​​battle is heating up.

The battle of conversational robots, chatbots based on artificial intelligence has just begun and is clearly gaining momentum today. Microsoft will indeed consider banning access to its Bing search engine data from other companies specializing in this market.

Microsoft mulls limiting access to Bing data to competing chatbots

The Redmond-based firm has threatened to shut down access to two Bing-based search engines unless their companies stop using the data for their own chatbots, Bloomberg reports. The Bloomberg article did not name the companies involved, and today there are several search engines that use Bing, including DuckDuckGo, Yahoo or You.com.

Sites such as DuckDuckGo and You.com use Microsoft’s licensed Bing search data to enhance their own search engine in many ways. However, Bloomberg reports that while the US giant has no problem with the current use of Bing, it wants to define a line that should not be crossed, which is “using the Bing search index as material for AI chatbots.”

AI battle heats up

These chatbots are thriving very fast today. Everyone has it. Obviously, we are talking mainly about OpenAI ChatGPT, Google Bard and Microsoft Bing Chat. And while we don’t know which companies were alerted by Microsoft, The Verge explains that DuckDuckGo, You.com and Neeva have launched their own similar AI products.

Generative AI and chatbots are without a doubt the technological innovation of 2023. And it seems that new features and new generations of bots appear daily. Bing, for example, recently introduced a feature that allows you to generate images using artificial intelligence. With the tech giants vying for dominance in this emerging market, it only makes sense that Microsoft is trying to limit outside companies’ access to their own data, at least when it comes to artificial intelligence.

Sources: Microsoft threatens to cut competitors access to Bing search index if they use it for their AI chat tools and warns at least two customers of breach of terms (Bloomberg) https://t.co/k4cYB086lW https://t.co/pce8H9pm9O

— Techmeme (@Techmeme) March 25, 2023