Microsoft released a new update for Windows 11 on Wednesday, March 1st, and everyone is talking about the update focusing on artificial intelligence… and its pretty serious failure to do so.
The AI-powered search box is now set to default on the taskbar, which may or may not be useful depending on your position in AI and “helpful” chatbots. This taskbar update is among the many other improved features included in the recent Windows 11 update, so it will be hard to avoid or ignore if you’re not a ChatGPT fan.
ChatGPT is an AI-enabled chatbot developed by OpenAI that allows users to interact with the bot and ask it to do anything from brainstorming recipes to breaking down complex ideas, writing and editing large text copies, or just a small chat. The bot uses machine learning to analyze user requests and responses using user input and information from its database. Microsoft started working with ChatGPT early last month and has had its share of setbacks and inaccuracies ever since.
It’s still too early to say how successful this new Windows 11 update (with ChatGPT-based AI search integration) will be, but it doesn’t look like the update taskbar update has been well received yet. In fact, we think it’s just a clumsy advertisement for Bing, Microsoft’s unpopular search engine. It also deprives consumers of any autonomy in terms of deciding whether they want to start using AI. This is not to denigrate ChatGPT and its fans, but rather to denounce this massive adoption that robs the consumer of choice.
Let’s say you’re skeptical or don’t know much about ChatGPT or Bing AI, you really don’t have a choice if you want access to Bing AI and there doesn’t seem to be a way to get rid of this add-on. to the Windows 11 desktop.
Microsoft announcement (will open in a new tab) It seems that the entire search procedure in Windows 11 will now be overloaded with AI, but this is far from the case.
There is no quick taskbar search that will give informed results. Fans or curious users who want to use the AI-powered Bing search engine won’t benefit from Windows 11’s integration of the capabilities that yesterday’s announcement seemed to promise. The promises of AI integration do not match what we actually got.
Instead, users now have the option to launch the new Bing chatbot without first typing “bing.com” into a web browser. That’s all. The blog post says that users have “the amazing new AI Bing experience right on the taskbar”, which is not true at all. You get a banner for Bing on the Windows search page and two tips suggesting what you should do when you click one of the related buttons and you’re taken to the Microsoft Edge browser in what looks like a deliberate attempt to get more people to use it.
Once you open Microsoft Edge, you can use Bing however you want if you’re signed up. I was redirected to the login/registration page since I haven’t created an account yet, but it’s incredibly annoying to be able to access the Bing AI chatbot from my desktop and… be redirected to a new program and webpage instead. Windows doesn’t do anything related to AI since Microsoft didn’t add AI to Windows search in the new feature update as you might think, so the Bing-based version of ChatGPT in Windows 11 just looks like a pointless ad.
Analysis: for whom?
This definitely seems like a demonstration of what a lot of people were afraid of when Microsoft announced their partnership with ChatGPT and implemented it in Bing: just another way for Microsoft to get people to use Bing and Edge instead of what they normally use.
We’ve all seen the pitiful little banners that pop up in Edge when setting up a PC or whenever you try to download Chrome or Firefox, and it definitely gives the impression that Microsoft has metaphorically stepped in and made sure that if you do, search on taskbar or try Bing AI, you’ll have to do it on its terms.
No matter what you think of AI chatbots or AI technology in general, there’s no denying that refreshing the taskbar is pointless. There are many more interesting and useful feature updates that have been overshadowed by this flashy Bing AI taskbar update.
The lack of a clear opt-out option seems to reinforce the idea that “Bing AI Shortcut” will not only remain, but should only be made available under Microsoft’s terms.