Microsoft is reportedly threatening to terminate the license of companies that use its Bing search index for their own artificial intelligence (AI) chat products, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
Microsoft licenses the data in its Bing search index, which is quickly scanned in real-time to other companies that provide web searches, such as Yahoo and DuckDuckGo.
This move comes after Microsoft integrated OpenAI's AI-powered chat technology into Bing in February, which prompted other search engine companies to develop their own AI chatbots.
Bing's Search Index
Alphabet's Google recently released its conversational AI product, Bard, while DuckDuckGo, You.com, and Neeva Inc also launched AI-fueled search services, DuckAssist, YouChat, and NeevaAI, respectively.
Microsoft has informed at least two clients that it is against their contract for them to use the Bing search index to power their AI chatbots. The company based in Redmond, Washington, stated that it reserves the right to revoke the licenses granting access to its search index.
Smaller search engines would struggle to find a replacement if they were excluded from Microsoft's index, according to unnamed sources who spoke to Bloomberg News, as Google and Microsoft are the only two corporations that index the whole web.
Nearly all other search engines now utilize Bing as a result of Google's restrictions on the use of its index.
As AI chatbots become more common in the search sector, the action could be interpreted as Microsoft trying to preserve its intellectual property. Competitors have begun creating AI chatbots that blend conversational skills and search engine data using Microsoft's Bing search database.
Microsoft's move to revoke the licenses granting access to its search index has left smaller search engines with few alternatives for finding an alternative, however, it is unclear if the corporation has taken any legal action.
As they provide users with a more conversational experience than conventional search engines, AI chatbots are playing a bigger role in the search market.
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The Rise of AI Chatbots
AI-powered chatbots are receiving significant investment from companies like Google and Microsoft to enhance the precision and responsiveness of search results.
In the past, search engines have relied on information from external websites, which may have resulted in errors and sluggish search times.
Since AI chatbots are built to interpret natural language and give individualized responses, consumers can get more precise and relevant results from them.
Smaller search engines may be compelled by Microsoft's threat to make costly and time-consuming investments in their own data collection and storage systems.
Smaller search engines like theirs may be at a disadvantage because larger search engines like Google and Microsoft have the resources to invest in AI chatbots and data collection systems, according to Bloomberg.
It remains to be seen whether Microsoft's threat will lead to any legal action, or if smaller search engines will find a way to access Bing data without violating their contracts with Microsoft.
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