This subject has sparked massive controversy in the IT world, with users’ opinions pouring on social media platforms and dedicated forums. The new AI-powered software chatbot has undergone several changes since it was recently launched and it will become more restrictive when competitors use it. It has also become more accessible and you can use it directly from the Windows 11 taskbar. And, pretty soon, it will also feature annoying ads.

Prepare for a ads to be incorporated in your answers

There have been several reports of ad links being spotted in Microsoft’s Bing Chat service in the past few weeks, but today the Redmond company has made it official. Microsoft has just posted a new Bing blog entry that describes the plans it has for monetizing the chatbot with ads. The above-mentioned blog post stated that Microsoft’s goal with Bing Chat is to drive more traffic to publishers in this new world of search. In fact, Yusuf Mehdi, the company’s Corporate Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, stated that early progress is more than encouraging. Based on data gathered from the preview, the company vouched for driving more traffic from all types of Bing AI ChatGPT users. Redmond claims it has brought more people to Bing/Edge for new scenarios like chat and we are seeing increased usage. There is also talk of uniquely implemented ways to drive traffic to publishers including citations within the body of the chat answers that are linked to sources as well as citations below the chat results to learn more with links to additional sources. Furthermore, officials also state that the company has met with some of the businesses that are partners in the Microsoft Start news feed service. These partners provided feedback to Microsoft on how they could use Bing Chat to link to their content and services. Microsoft added a couple of early ideas.

An expanded hover experience where hovering over a link from a publisher will display more links from that publisher giving the user more ways to engage and driving more traffic to the publisher’s website. For Microsoft Start partners, placing a rich caption of Microsoft Start licensed content beside the chat answer helping to drive more user engagement with the content on Microsoft Start where we share the ad revenue with the partner. We’re also exploring placing ads in the chat experience to share the ad revenue with partners whose content contributed to the chat response.

Keep in mind that, since Microsoft still considers these ad plans to be early ideas, it’s more than likely that formatting and the overall ad experience will change in the coming months for Bing Chat. What is your take on this entire situation? Be sure to share your thoughts and opinions with us in the comments section below.

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