ChatGPT Opened a New Era in Search. Microsoft Could Ruin It
Search entrepreneurs that use Microsoft data and hoped to provide their own chat-style features say the bounty they would have to pay Bing would crush them. Microsoft’s search chatbot is not on offer to API customers so far.
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Some search veterans say Microsoft’s price hikes add to the company’s track record of restricting its search offerings for outside developers. “Bing squandered an opportunity to create a great ecosystem of search services, which I believe strongly would have ultimately benefited Bing in many ways,” said D. Sivakumar, a research scientist who worked on search for 16 years at Google and Yahoo before starting the ecommerce search startup Tonita in 2021.
Microsoft spokesperson Caitlin Roulston says the price increases reflect growing investments to improve Bing, in ways that also benefit companies relying on its results. The recent use of LLMs to help rank results has improved search quality more than any previous upgrade in the last 20 years, Roulston says. “We are in early discussions with partners to explore additional opportunities and look forward to continuing to foster a healthy web ecosystem,” she says.
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