They said it couldn’t be done, but Bing now has 100 million daily users.
Microsoft’s corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi shared the news in a blog post(Opens in a new tab) and Twitter(Opens in a new tab) on Thursday. Additionally, Mehdi said roughly a third of Bing users are new, and engagement is up with existing users. Thanks to the launch of the new Bing, users are suddenly curious to test out the ChatGPT-style features on Bing and Microsoft’s web browser Edge. “As more people come to use the new Bing and Edge, we’re seeing trial and adoption of new capabilities that prove out the value of an integrated Search and Chat experience,” said Mehdi.
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In February, Microsoft reminded people Bing still exists and announced a new version of the search engine, powered by OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence. It was an audacious move to make a play for some of Google’s search engine traffic, which dominates the market. But it also meant Bing didn’t have much to lose. Now it seems Bing’s hail Mary might be paying off.
Compared to Google’s daily active user count, estimated to be at least one billion, 100 million daily active users is still small potatoes. But it’s a significant milestone for the search engine that was often the butt of jokes. Since its launch a month ago, the new Bing has suddenly become the cool kid. Over one million users signed up for the waitlist to get access, and social media has been saturated with posts from users who got early access. The New York Times even posted(Opens in a new tab) an entire two hour transcript of a conversation between Bing chat and technology columnist Kevin Roose.
Of course, some of Bing’s newfound popularity is often about how creepy or misguided it can be. But Bing has been using this feedback to create updates and improvements. The key is whether Microsoft can transform Bing’s novelty into longterm success. “This is a surprisingly notable figure, and yet we are fully aware we remain a small, low, single digit share player,” said Mehdi about the long road ahead. “That said, it feels good to be at the dance!”
