The line between ChatGPT and Bing Chat is getting blurred

The most obvious example is that Microsoft has worked closely with (and invested heavily in) OpenAI to create utilities that are receiving a lot of attention like Bing Chat and Copilot. However, there is a reality that has emerged and is also of great interest to the technology community, which is the real diversity in the feature set and broader experience of chatbots.

Microsoft announced in early May that it was adding third-party plugins to Bing Chat that would allow the tool to perform actions and audits of data that would otherwise not be possible through search queries. on the regular web. The example Microsoft gives is to use Bing Chat to research restaurants in an area, then find and reserve seats using the OpenTable plugin. This plugin feature is essentially very similar to ChatGPT's plugins, which was previously revealed in March and recently started rolling out by OpenAI to users who subscribe to ChatGPT Plus.

Microsoft has confirmed that they are working with OpenAI to develop Bing Chat plugins, but on the Build 2023 event stage recently, the actual experience that the ChatGPT and Bing Chat plugins will be essentially the same.

The reason explained is that ' Microsoft and OpenAI are jointly committed to supporting and growing the AI ​​plugin ecosystem by embracing interoperability. This means that developers can now use one platform to build and ship plug-ins that work across both consumer and enterprise platforms, including ChatGPT, Bing, Dynamics 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Windows Copilot '.

That means Bing Chat and ChatGPT will have the same library of plugins available, at least whenever the feature is ready for widespread roll-out. ChatGPT currently has plugins that can connect to Expedia, Instacart, OpenTable, Wolfram Alpha, and Zapier… Some developers may choose to just submit their plugin to one chatbot or another, but it's too early to know that. how will happen.

Microsoft says that Bing Chat and Edge sidebar will have access to the plugin 'in the next few weeks'. Bing search for ChatGPT is also rolling out to ChatGPT Plus subscribers and will be available as a plugin for free users soon.

Jessica Tanner

Update 07 July 2023