Microsoft is a tech giant that has been a frontrunner in the tech industry for years. The company recently issued a warning to two search engines not to use Bing’s data for AI chatbot products. Microsoft believes this action to be a violation of the licensee contract and threatens to take action against those continuing the use.
Bloomberg identified the company’s president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith, as their source on the action. He has stated that Microsoft is in contact with the providers not following the terms of the contract and will provide information to find a path forward.
AI chatbot products are growing with the integration of And ChatGPT, an AI-powered chat technology developed by OpenAI into Bing. Microsoft’s competitors have released their own AI tools such as DuckAssist, YouChat, and NeevaAI. With these tools, users are able to receive answers to questions, access summaries from Wikipedia, create code, generate social media posts, and more.
The contention between Microsoft and its rival search engines is heated, so it is uncertain what will happen optimistically for Bing’s data. Moving forward, Microsoft may decide to enforce its terms across the board, leaving other companies at risk of losing access to Bing’s search index. Before this transpires, search engines must make sure to consider future changes in order to not be caught off-guard and find themselves in a disagreement with Microsoft.
