(Credit: Microsoft)
Traditional search engines such as Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Google all have generative AI tools, and plenty of AI search engines are now available. But, as a seasoned tester of search engines, Microsoft's new Copilot Search feature in Bing stands out to me among the myriad options. Launched at Microsoft's 50th Anniversary Event in Redmond, WA, Copilot Search displays its sources clearly, lets you refine your queries, and even shows you its reasoning process. The standard version of Copilot can also search web results, of course, but Copilot Search in Bing provides a richer set of options and a more useful results page layout.
Copilot Search is available on both desktop and mobile platforms, and you don't need to sign into a Microsoft account to use it. I tried it out at the company's anniversary event, but Microsoft representatives told me that the tool should already be live for more than 90% of Bing users. Indeed, it was available on both my laptop and phone for testing.
Here’s how to try Copilot Search, along with my thoughts on this (dare I say) groundbreaking advance in web search:
1. Open Bing
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Start by navigating to good old Bing.com. Enter your query as a regular search. Don't click the Copilot button on the home page; that takes you to the standard Copilot interface. For this example, my search query was “rare bird sightings in Redmond, Washington.”
2. Choose Copilot Search
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)This is the second button from the left in the top row, next to All. You should see an animation and related search queries that the AI generates based on your input. Then, the results page appears.
3. Browse the Curated Results
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Imagine my disappointment when I learned that there hadn't been any recent rare bird sightings in the area. However, Copilot Search's additional search features (below) lifted my mood.
4. Click See Reasoning
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)I’ve never seen this option in any other search engine: Copilot Search shows you what it thinks your search intention is in plain language. In my case, it came up with “The user is looking for information on recent sightings of rare birds, specifically in Redmond, Washington. They may want to know which rare bird species have been observed in the area recently.” That's spot-on.
5. Click See All Links
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)This is a great option for research or cases in which you need to double-check Copilot Search's sources. It shows you a clear sidebar with sections for sources and all links. The top group includes the pages Copilot used to generate its answer, whereas the bottom section shows all the pages it considered. The latter are similar to what a standard web search would find.
6. Explore Suggested Searches
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)At the bottom of the generated answer, you see suggested searches, which, in my case, were fairly on target. The first suggestion in my example was “Best birding spots near Redmond,” which is probably what I should have asked in the first place.
7. Ask a Follow-Up Question
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)The bottom search box with the Copilot logo lets you submit any additional related queries. This capability isn't available with standard search engines. Copilot Search retains the previous context of your searches, so you don't need to enter a complete query here. For example, when I entered “top species” or "rarest species," it knew I was talking about bird species. You can see the result of that latter follow-up question in the image above. I like that Copilot Search offers to show photos or videos of the Sandhill Crane on the right side of the results page.
It's Time to Give Bing Another Chance
I find all these new tools compelling and among the many reasons to use Bing, at least occasionally. Google includes AI Overviews at the top of its results, but you don't get the same context-aware follow-ups, link sourcing, search options, and reasoning insights as with Copilot Search.
Whatever your thoughts on Bing, Copilot Search is just the latest example of Microsoft's start-up-like focus on AI. I suggest you give it a try.