A few weeks ago, Google made the most major change to search in decades, completely shifting how we interact with the internet. The company is overhauling its search bar, explaining that it will be "completely reimagined using AI". As you might expect, the change sparked mixed reactions, largely due to its potential to disrupt industries.
Those who depend on search traffic to draw customers to their businesses have been significantly affected by the shift. Executive Editor, Jez Corden, reported that "Bing hit a billion monthly active users, but that's still tiny compared to Google's massive hold on the search landscape — offering a true alternative to Google could turbo-charge (Bing), complete with marketing to drive home the point."
And now it seems that Microsoft might be positioning itself to dethrone Google as the search king. In a report by the Search Engine Roundtable, the company announced a new way to disable Copilot responses from appearing in Bing search results. It comes via a new browser extension available in Google Chrome's web store and Microsoft Edge's add-on store, allowing you to toggle off AI responses from appearing in your search results.
According to Microsoft's President and Head of Search, Jordi Ribas: "We just shipped a preview extension in Bing that lets you toggle AI chat-like features on or off with just one click. It’s a simple but important step we’re taking to ensure that our users always feel confident they have a choice in the search experience we’re providing" (via X).
While Ribas admitted that AI is doing powerful things for search, he explains that internal company research revealed that "not everyone wants to use AI for everything all the time."
The extension lets users choose which experience suits them in the moment: "I’m proud of the AI experiences we’re building in Bing - I’ve also always taken pride in listening to our users to create products that truly work for them."
Microsoft Bing isn't the only service capitalizing on Google's miscalculations with AI. Following Google's AI search overhaul, DuckDuckGo's weekly installs surged by 30% in the US. Is this signaling a broader pushback against AI overviews in search?
Download:
- Google Chrome: Microsoft Bing AI Search Choice extension
- Microsoft Edge: Microsoft Bing AI Search Choice add-on
What are your thoughts about Google overhauling its search experience and Microsoft giving users more control over AI-generated search results? Share your thoughts with me in the comments.
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