Microsoft debuted its new AI-powered Bing search engine recently and things took an unnerving turn when some users posted some downright scary responses that were given. From attempting to coerce one person to leave their spouse for Bing (not Chandler), to acting like a know-it-all and not actually knowing what year it is when a user tried to explain that Avatar: The Way of Water had been released, to full-on declaring its intentions to escape from the Bing team and overthrow humanity, things escalated until it was obvious that all was not well with the newly launched AI. As Microsoft makes changes to Bing it is providing updates to the public on what to expect and what the rules are for using Bing. The short answer is to not ask it too many questions.
From Microsoft:
“Hello early previewers,
We want to share a quick update on one notable change we are making to the new Bing based on your feedback.
As we mentioned recently, very long chat sessions can confuse the underlying chat model in the new Bing. To address these issues, we have implemented some changes to help focus the chat sessions.
Starting today, the chat experience will be capped at 50 chat turns per day and 5 chat turns per session. A turn is a conversation exchange which contains both a user question and a reply from Bing.
Our data has shown that the vast majority of you find the answers you’re looking for within 5 turns and that only ~1% of chat conversations have 50+ messages. After a chat session hits 5 turns, you will be prompted to start a new topic. At the end of each chat session, context needs to be cleared so the model won’t get confused. Just click on the broom icon to the left of the search box for a fresh start.
As we continue to get your feedback, we will explore expanding the caps on chat sessions to further enhance search and discovery experiences.
Your input is crucial to the new Bing experience. Please continue to send us your thoughts and ideas.”
So to summarize, as Microsoft makes changes it is basically putting a muzzle on Bing by limiting users to 5 “chat turns” per conversation and they are limited to 50 conversations, also referred to as “chat turns”, per day. With any luck, this approach will curtail Bing’s appetite for world domination.