Microsoft Bing Chat has been here since February 2023. On July 2023, Microsoft announced another version of Bing Chat, Bing Chat Enterprise, an AI-powered chatbot with a higher level of data protection for businesses that are concerned with privacy and security issues with generative AI tools. Generative AI refers to output that comes in the form of text, pictures, videos, code, data and more that is generated based on the data that it is trained on.
Let’s compare and see if Bing Chat offers better features than ChatGPT:
Better Privacy
Major companies such as Apple, Samsung, Spotify, Samsung and Amazon have restricted their employees from using generative AI due to privacy concerns over data leaks to the AI. The concerns are valid since OpenAI has openly stated that ChatGPT may use the data that is provided in the chat to improve their models when training in ChatGPT settings is turned on. Bing Chat Enterprise responds to these concerns by offering features that will not save chat data and will not leak data outside of the organization.
All data will also not be used to train the models. Different from normal Bing Chat, the data may be saved, accessed, or used by Microsoft or third parties. However, despite the concerns, some companies are still open to using these AI potentials to help them work more efficiently.
Integrations and Plugins
Since Bing Chat is a product of Microsoft, it is integrated with various Microsoft apps and services, such as Edge, Skype and Bing apps, both on desktop and mobile devices. For example, when an individual needs to quickly summarize a lengthy article, they can use Bing Chat from the sidebar and quickly give what is needed without needing to copy and paste the whole article into the chat box, as they would with the ChatGPT. Since ChatGPT is a web service, it will require you to open another tab to start typing prompts.
ChatGPT can also be integrated into apps such as WhatsApp; however, it may not be reliable and secure. However, ChatGPT offers a wider range of plugins than Bing Chat to combine AI with other apps. It is important to note that not all the plugins are well integrated. Some Canva users reported that it does not generate images properly.
Insights
The Insights tab on Bing Chat will provide the user with more in-depth information about the site that is currently being browsed. Just by clicking the tab, there will be a list of ‘Key Points’ of the content of the site that are included automatically without having to type anything. This feature will depend on the site, such as showing related products, a Q&A section, page topics, related videos, related posts, related searches and more. This improves the search experience for users. Also, some might use these features to gain keyword ideas from top-ranking pages. However, this feature is not available on ChatGPT.
Composition
While ChatGPT needs a specific prompt to get the most relevant output, Bing Chat offers a very detailed and specific output while also giving multiple options to set the type of tones, format, and length. While Bing Chat is more convenient and saves time, this can also be done in ChatGPT by using custom instructions. However, ChatGPT has longer and more detailed long-form content than Bing Chat, with the same character limit of 4000 characters or words, while Bing Chat tends to provide detailed but short-form content. This shows that Bing Chat is more suitable for those with a limited amount of time but who want to digest a lot of information. However, one might need to brainstorm a bit more to include more words and details if one wants to generate an essay.
Cite Sources
Bing Chat will cite where all the given information came from, unlike ChatGPT. This will make it more reliable and trusted since users will know where it is from and can trace whether it is from a legitimate source. Since ChatGPT training’s latest data is only available until 2021, Bing Chat is more useful for research purposes on the latest trends in technology and science. Despite this being seen as a disadvantage to ChatGPT, it will soon have Bing built in, which may improve this area in the future.
Image Generation
Bing Chat does not only produce text with generative AI but also images, which cannot be done with ChatGPT. This is because DALL-E, a product of OpenAI, is a separate product from ChatGPT. However, with Bing Chat, images can be generated directly in the chat since it is built-in with the image creator generator. This can be done by typing in the description of the image that is wanted.
Both Bing Chat and ChatGPT have their own advantages, with much potential for improvement. If someone is an avid user of Microsoft and is looking for a ChatGPT alternative, it might be a good option to try. That is, if the individual does not mind a shorter output than ChatGPT. It is very suitable and recommended for those who do not like receiving too much information all at once, such as what is given by ChatGPT. ChatGPT is still a great choice and is often widely used among users worldwide. Keep in mind that while Bing Chat may claim to have a secure way to prevent the use of generative AI, it is still a good practice to check with the sources to see if it is legitimate.
