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Search queries generally fall under two categories: Those searching for a quick answer and those who want to get a thorough understanding of a topic. Since both of those requests are significantly different in nature, Bing unveiled a new search dedicated to queries that are searching for in-depth responses.
On Tuesday, Bing introduced Deep Search, a new feature on Microsoft Bing that allows users to get more robust and comprehensive answers to their search queries, no matter how complex the topic is.
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Instead of replacing Bing’s search engine, it works in tandem with it to give users the opportunity to explore deeper into the web, surfacing results that would typically not show up in typical search results.
The way Deep Search works is that it enhances its web index and ranking system with OpenAI’s GPT-4 to better understand the intent of the search query by expanding the query into a more comprehensive description.
Bing
For example, a query in Deep Search that simply reads “how do points systems work in Japan?” might be expanded to a more extensive description, as seen below.
Provide an explanation of how various loyalty card programs work in Japan, including the benefits, requirements, and limitations of each. Include examples of popular loyalty cards from different categories, such as convenience stores, supermarkets, and restaurants. Show a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of using loyalty cards versus other payment methods in Japan, including current rewards and benefits. Highlight the most popular services and participating merchants.
Since the query is ambiguous and could be referring to something else, GPT-4 also helps Deep Search to come up with different possible intents and offers a comprehensive description for each of them. The different intent choices are then presented to the user, who can then select the right one, as seen in the photo below.
Bing
Once the intent of the prompt is determined, Deep Search will gather a wide collection of web pages for you to review and rank them according to how well they match the comprehensive description. This guarantees that you see the more tailored results you were looking for.
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Even though it provides much more comprehensive results, it doesn’t take much longer to produce the results. Compared to the one second Bing takes to respond to a regular search query, a Deep Search takes thirty seconds.
Because of the longer wait for search results, as well as the depth of the results, Deep Search isn’t meant for every single query. Rather, it’s for topics that you want to deep dive into, for example, if you are researching a topic for a paper.