Powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology, Prometheus, Microsoft’s specialized version of an AI-powered search engine, will live within Microsoft’s Bing search tool and Edge browser and will be revolutionary in enabling users to explore and discover information more quickly than ever before. In addition to Bing and Edge, Microsoft plans to eventually incorporate this AI technology into its full product suite.

I must admit, after the release of ChatGPT 3.0 and the speculation about its impact on search and how search and the web browser can be reimagined, AI-powered search has happened much faster than I would have thought possible—and Microsoft, not Google or Apple, is at the forefront of this AI revolution. As my recent blog post, “Will AI Fundamentally Change the Way We Work and Create?,” discussed, the answer is 100% yes, and AI will only continue to impact how we search, discover, write, or anything else we need help with. The speed in which this is happening (and it will only be accelerated by speed to market) will reshape every aspect of business, education and our personal needs.

Prometheus, Bing’s AI-Powered Search Tool

Microsoft has unveiled its latest innovation in AI technology, Prometheus, powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This revolutionary AI-powered search engine technology will be integrated into Microsoft’s Bing search tool and Edge browser, allowing users to explore and discover information more quickly than ever before. Prometheus is designed to understand natural language, process it and offer relevant answers to queries. It’s also capable of learning and adapting to the user’s preferences, making it more intuitive and responsive.

Microsoft plans to eventually incorporate Prometheus into its full product suite, bringing a whole new level of convenience and efficiency to its users. With Prometheus, Microsoft is revolutionizing the way we access the world’s information.

Not to be outdone by Microsoft, earlier this week, Google announced that its own version of ChatGPT, named Bard, would begin testing its new chatbot with a limited beta release, before deploying it to the general public in the coming weeks. However, it remains to be seen how Google’s Bard (Alphabet) (which lost $100 billion in market value after its new AI technology produced a factual error in an ad demo) or Meta’s Galactica will differ from Prometheus.

As shown in the screenshot example below, provided by Bing, when the following question was entered in the search field, “Where can I celebrate my anniversary that’s within three hours from London,” Prometheus responded with both a general response and one that felt as if I was speaking to a travel agent. On the right side are page links referencing anniversary travel suggestions, and on the left the AI provides you with a more conversational approach to your query that expands on it based on activities.

Prometheus is further explained in this recent New York Times article: “Microsoft has also incorporated OpenAI’s technology into Edge, its web browser, as a kind of superpowered writing assistant. Users can now open a panel in Edge, type in a general topic and get an A.I.-generated paragraph, blog post, email or list of ideas written in one of five tones (professional, casual, informational, enthusiastic or funny). They can paste that text directly into a web browser, a social media app, or an email client.”

The image below demonstrates how this can be used to generate a post on LinkedIn in a matter of seconds.

This same article called out a pretty amazing feature for extracting and comparing data that can be used across any website: “After navigating to the Gap’s website, I opened a PDF file with the company’s most recent quarterly financial results and asked Edge to both summarize the key takeaways and create a table comparing the data with the most recent financial results from another clothing company, Lululemon. The A.I. did both, almost instantly.”

This post describes a way to use an AI search engine to summarize reviews: “One potential application for an AI-powered search, for example, could be to take reviews from a site like Yelp and summarize it, so a user has an idea about the general consensus about a restaurant or a place of business. An AI-powered search also has the ability to add context to a search, something that Google’s search typically doesn’t do.”

Bing’s AI-powered search tool is designed to provide more accurate and relevant search results than Google’s algorithm-based approach, and with greater context. For example, ask Bing if a certain TV brand will fit in a specific car, and the query returns the exact dimensions of the TV compared to the size of the car’s trunk space.

Is this the End of Google’s Search Engine Dominance?

Bing’s AI search tool is certainly shaking up the search landscape, and it could mean the end of Google’s dominance in the market. However, Google still dominates the search engine market, with an estimated 93% of the market share compared to Bing’s 3%, making it difficult for Bing to carve out a piece of the $570 billion digital advertising market. As shared here, in 2022, Microsoft earned $18 billion in ad revenue through search and LinkedIn. Google, meanwhile, pulled in $59 billion in Q4 alone. As these AI-powered search platforms continue to evolve and mature, it will be interesting to see if more and more users opt to switch their browser preference from Google or Safari to Bing.

That being said, not much has evolved with search over the last 20 years. In time, Bing’s AI-powered search tool could potentially become a serious threat to Google’s search engine supremacy.

Microsoft’s Layer Cake Strategy

Microsoft has recognized product as a competitive advantage. As shared above, the company is planning to incorporate the Prometheus AI technology into its Office suite of products. By layering this technology into each of its products, Microsoft will give users more of a reason to select Edge as their go-to search engine. This post expressed a similar opinion: “The event is broader than just Microsoft, which makes the bulk of its revenue selling services like Office products and cloud hosting to other companies.

The entire technology industry is about to be upended. Microsoft is uniquely positioned to benefit from the shift. Many of the applications of these AI “large language models,” which are capable of digesting seemingly infinite sources of data, will be more valuable to companies than they are to individuals. And serving companies is in Microsoft’s wheelhouse, more so than it is for Google.”

Microsoft’s development of innovative AI technology is incredibly impressive. From its specialized version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology, Prometheus, to conversational bots, natural language processing and computer vision, the company is proving to be a powerful visionary in the world of AI.

While its Prometheus AI is far from perfect, it will be interesting to see how Microsoft can uniquely position itself as the world’s AI copilot, therefore having a major impact on how we use technology in business and our everyday lives. As always, thank you for reading.

All Images: Microsoft