Thanks to the emergence of ChatGPT and subsequent continuous upgrades, Microsoft's new Bing, launched a few weeks ago, has now exceeded the 100 million active users milestone, and the trend has been growing.。In addition, it was found in the new Bing preview version after joining Bing Chat that about one-third of the millions of users are new users。

Although the emergence of Bing Chat has led to a surge in Microsoft's search engine usage, Microsoft has actually made other efforts behind it。For example, Microsoft's self-developed browser, Microsoft Edge, has also played a crucial role in Bing's usage growth, as Microsoft has also updated Edge to make it more suitable for the new Bing, and Bing's subsequent new features will only be available on Edge.。Even Microsoft has updated Windows to prompt messages to stop people from downloading Google Chrome。As you can see, Microsoft is taking great pains to grab market share from search engine giant Google。

"Cash is king, fast cash" Microsoft plans to embed ads in new version of Bing search engine

It is understood that after attracting 100 million daily users, Microsoft is now planning to make a profit by planting ads in the new Bing.。On March 29, Microsoft Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Yusuf Mehdi published a blog called "Bringing More Traffic and Value to Publishers with the New Version of Bing," in which Mehdi wrote that the company was exploring the placement of ads during Bing's chat.。

Yusuf Mehdi said: "We recently met with a number of partners to start exploring ideas and get feedback on how we can continue to distribute content in ways that make sense to our partners" traffic and revenue.。"。"These conversations are premature, but we've heard positive feedback as we look for opportunities to maximize these new experiences for the entire ecosystem."。"

Specifically, Microsoft offers some ideas about how pre-advertisers will settle in: the first is the mouse hover experience。It means that when a user hovers over a link from a publisher, more links from that publisher will be displayed, giving users more ways to interact and bringing more traffic to the publisher's website。

Second, for Microsoft Start partners, Microsoft will place a rich title box with content licensed by Microsoft Start next to the chat answer box to help increase user engagement with content on Microsoft Start。In addition, Microsoft is also exploring the placement of sponsored ads in the chat experience。

For example, ask Bing "How do I buy a house in Oakland, California？"The user gets an answer that may include a tiny ad link that, when clicked on, leads to the advertiser's site.。

Digital ad spending is expected to grow more than 10 percent this year to $627 billion, according to analytics firm Insider Intelligence.。

A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced plans to increase revenue in a digital advertising market worth about $500 billion.。In a conference call with analysts last month, Microsoft Finance CVP Philippe Ockenden said: "For every 1 percentage point increase in the search advertising market, our advertising business has a $2 billion revenue opportunity.。"。

In the past 12 months, Microsoft's advertising revenue has grown to $18 billion, compared to $10 billion in the last fiscal year.。Much of that is thanks to Bing, but Microsoft has a long way to go before it can come close to the more than $200 billion Google will get from ads in 2022.。

 Microsoft's AI lead is far from guaranteed

When it comes to generative AI, Microsoft now relies on ChatGPT for dominance。After pouring billions of dollars into its developer OpenAI, the tech giant is building a small AI empire with plans to add the technology to everything from Bing to Office 365.。In addition, Microsoft is currently introducing generative AI into its cybersecurity products through Microsoft Security Copilot.。

This is all part of Microsoft's strategy to ensure that when it comes to AI, the first thing that comes to mind is that Microsoft is the company.。Frank Dickson, group vice president of security and trust at International Data Corporation, said: "They (Microsoft) are clearly ahead of everyone else.。"。

However, the temporary lead does not mean that Microsoft will always be the "boss" of the AI industry.。As its biggest competitor, Google's parent company Alphabet has devoted itself to the development of the AI industry in an attempt to regain lost market share.。Although Google's first show of "Apprentice Bud" performed poorly, it still poses a threat to Microsoft to some extent.。

In addition, Facebook parent company Meta is also forming a team of engineers to focus on generating artificial intelligence.。Domestic Internet giant Baidu also officially released its artificial intelligence chat robot "Wenxin Yiyan" this month, which has been appreciated by many institutions.。

While Microsoft's rivals are struggling to catch up, the company can still use its current lead to quickly compete for valuable market share。

Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz said: "The past few months have clearly shown that Microsoft has been working feverishly behind the scenes and, of course, OpenAI is working behind the scenes to push the boundaries in areas related to generative AI and integrate it broadly into their product portfolio.。"。

Microsoft is already the second-largest cloud provider after Amazon, and adding its generative AI capabilities could make it more attractive to potential customers.。This is particularly important as cloud revenue growth has slowed from epidemic highs。Microsoft Azure platform revenue grew 26% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2023, down from 46% growth in the second quarter of 2022。However, the inclusion of generative AI could help boost business。

Dan Ives, managing director of Wedbush, said: "This is only the first step in the field of artificial intelligence, because with Azure's AI arms race among large technology companies, we expect to have more cloud integration with Azure in 2023.。"。

To stay ahead, Microsoft will have to continue to divert the attention of competitors while enhancing its AI capabilities in its products.。If it doesn't, Google will gladly take its place.。