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Microsoft has set a limit on the number of chat sessions that can be held on its new Bing search engine, which includes artificial intelligence similar to ChatGPT. In a blog post on Friday, the software giant stated that the conversation experience would be limited to 50 chat turns per day and 5 chat turns per session. In this context, a turn is a conversation exchange that includes both a user query and a Bing response.
Reasoning behind Microsoft’s restriction on Bing chat usage
Microsoft has been testing its new AI-powered Bing search engine with a small group of users from over 169 countries. According to the company, the integration is merely a tool to aid in understanding and making sense of the world, rather than a replacement or substitute for the search engine.
However, some media reports showed, the new Bing search engine’s results were factually incorrect, potentially harmful, and the technology was not yet ready for widespread use. (ALSO READ: Microsoft’s Bing chatbot with ChatGPT-like AI gets defensive, users complain)
In the blog post, the company admitted that very long chat sessions ‘can confuse the underlying chat model’ in the new Bing. As a result, the change to focus the chat sessions is implemented to address these issues.
What will change with the update?
Users will be prompted to start a new topic when a conversation session reaches 5 turns. The context must be cleared at the end of each conversation session to keep the model from becoming confused. To restart, users must click the broom icon to the left of the search field. (ALSO READ: Man fired from Microsoft after working for 21 years shares bittersweet LinkedIn post)
According to Microsoft’s data, the vast majority of users find the answers they’re looking for within 5 turns, and only 1% of chat conversations have more than 50 messages.