Bing’s AI Integration Fails to Dent Google’s Search Dominance: Bloomberg Analysis
According to an analysis conducted by Bloomberg, Microsoft’s efforts to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its Bing search engine have not significantly affected Google’s dominance in the search market. Despite Microsoft’s multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment in AI company OpenAI, Bing’s market share remains relatively stagnant.
Before the introduction of AI-powered features, Bing’s usage had declined by approximately 33 percent year over year. However, those numbers began to rebound in the middle of 2023. Although Microsoft has not provided an official update on Bing’s monthly active users, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Yusuf Medhi, confirmed that millions and millions of people are still utilizing the new AI features.
Data from StatCounter supports Bloomberg’s findings, showing that Google’s worldwide market share has remained in the low 90s for the past 15 years, while Bing’s market share has remained stable at around 3.4 percent during the same period.
In the United States, Bing’s usage did experience a slight increase from 6.7 percent in December 2022 to 7.7 percent in December 2023. However, this growth does not necessarily indicate a surge in new Bing search users, as usage remained relatively consistent throughout most of 2023.
Interestingly, Microsoft seems to be distancing its AI efforts from Bing, rebranding Bing Chat and Bing Image Creator as Windows Copilot and Image Creator from Designer, respectively. While these products still prominently feature Bing’s branding, it appears that Microsoft is allowing them to stand on their own.
Despite Bing’s inability to significantly challenge Google’s search dominance, the study conducted by Leipzig University suggests that all search engines, including Google and Bing-powered DuckDuckGo, have seen a decline in text quality, particularly in heavily search engine optimized (SEO) categories such as purchase recommendations and product reviews.
In conclusion, Microsoft’s AI integration in Bing has not made a significant dent in Google’s search dominance. However, it remains to be seen whether Google’s position in the search market is assured, especially as researchers have highlighted a downward trend in text quality across various search engines.
