ChatGPT boosted user numbers and time spent on Microsoft’s Bing, but fails to dent Google’s search dominance
- The market share of Microsoft’s search engine rose less than 1 percentage point since the ChatGPT announcement
- Microsoft is betting that generative AI will change how advertisers allocate their search spending
When Microsoft announced it was baking ChatGPT into its Bing search engine last February, bullish analysts declared the move an “iPhone moment” that could upend the search market and chip away at Google’s dominance.
“The entire search category is now going through a sea change,” chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at the time. “That opportunity comes very few times.”
Almost a year later, the sea has yet to change.
The new Bing – powered by OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology – dazzled internet users with conversational replies to queries asked in a natural way.
But Microsoft’s search engine ended 2023 with just 3.4 per cent of the global search market, according to data analytics firm StatCounter, up less than 1 percentage point since the ChatGPT announcement.
Bing has long struggled for relevance and attracted more mockery than recognition over the years as a serious alternative to Google. Multiple rebrandings and redesigns since its 2009 debut did little to boost Bing’s popularity.
