Microsoft Bing is getting a new “Deep Search” feature powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4. The feature is designed to provide users with more relevant and comprehensive answers to complex search queries. Microsoft notes that Deep Search does not replace the existing Bing web search, but is an enhancement that enables deeper web exploration.
In a suspensionMicrosoft explains that the new feature builds on Bing’s current web index and ranking system and enhances them with GPT-4, which takes the search query and turns it into a more complete description of what the results should include.
For example, let’s say a user is looking at loyalty programs in different countries and enters the query: “how do point systems work in Japan”. Deep Search will take the query and expand it to:
Provide an explanation of how various loyalty card programs work in Japan, including the benefits, requirements, and limitations of each. Include examples of popular rewards cards from different categories such as convenience stores, supermarkets and restaurants. Show a comparison of the pros and cons of using loyalty cards versus other payment methods in Japan, including current rewards and benefits. Highlight the most popular services and participating merchants.
With this extended description, you can explain your intent better than you could with just a few words.
In cases where your search query is more vague, Deep Search will find all possible intents and generate a comprehensive description for each one. Deep Search then displays these intents to you, allowing you to choose the right one.
Image Credits: Bing
Once the expanded description is created, Bing will pull relevant results that often don’t appear in standard search results, Microsoft says. Deep Search finds pages that might match the expanded query, rewrites the query, and then searches for those variations as well.
Sticking with the same loyalty points query example above, Deep Search can also search for things like “loyalty card programs in Japan”, “best loyalty cards for travelers in Japan”, “comparison of loyalty programs by category in Japan”, “redeem loyalty cards in Japan’ and ‘managing loyalty points with phone apps’.
“This way, Deep Search can find results that cover different aspects of my query, even if they don’t explicitly include the original keywords,” Microsoft wrote in the blog post. “Regular searches on Bing already receive millions of web pages for each search, and Deep Search does ten times more to find results that are more informative and specific than those that rank higher in regular search.”
Once Deep Search collects web pages, it ranks them based on how well they match the extended description. When ranking, Deep Search looks at how well the topic matches the query, whether it has the appropriate level of detail, how trustworthy the page is, and how new and popular it is.
Microsoft notes that deep search is optional and can take up to 30 seconds to complete, so it’s not intended for every query or user. For users who don’t want more comprehensive answers, they can get regular Bing search results instantly.
