Microsoft Copilot returns to its Bing roots with major search overhaul

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Microsoft just announced several new features for Copilot. The AI tool will receive the features over the coming months, but some upgrades are already available.

One of the more interesting features announced today is Copilot Search in Bing. That tool combines traditional web search with generative search results.

Microsoft claims the addition "transforms web search." Copilot Search checks information from multiple websites to show more detailed and accurate responses through Bing.

Those search results will show citations and suggestions that lead people to more information on a topic.

The improved search functionality probably won't garner as much attention as Copilot gaining support for remembering details from conversations, but it is more important for many people. For many, Bing search is their first introduction to the Copilot brand.

Bringing together traditional search and generative AI should result in better responses to queries. Google is still the dominant search engine by far, but many complain about the results generated by Google search.

If Microsoft can use Copilot to make Bing a better tool for finding useful information, that would help the Bing brand substantially. The fact that Microsoft markets the resulting tool as "Copilot Search" is also handy because it appears to customers as something new rather than just an update to Bing.

Copilot used to be called Bing Chat, so any feature that combines AI and Bing search is a return to form for Microsoft. I think the Copilot name carries a better reputation than that of Bing, so the change made sense.

Microsoft is rolling out the initial versions of the new Copilot experiences today, but it will take some time for them to ship to everyone. Availability will also depend on your platform, market, and language.