Simon WillisonFeb 14, 2023

There are a LOT of screenshots of the current Bing floating around right now where it answers questions with hilariously bad answers. This is NOT the new Bing though: this is Bing's existing version of Google's "featured snippets"

The new Bing is still behind a waitlist for most people. I've attached a screenshot of that taken from this Verge article: https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/7/23587454/microsoft-bing-edge-chatgpt-ai

Microsoft announces new Bing and Edge browser powered by upgraded ChatGPT AI

Microsoft has unveiled a new version of Bing with an AI chat function. The AI chat is powered by the same technology underpinning ChatGPT. Microsoft wants to capitalize on the hype and threaten Google’s dominance.

The Verge
Show threadSimon WillisonFeb 14, 2023
If you see a screenshot like this one you can dunk on it all you like but it's NOT the new GPT-3 enhanced Bing: this is something a Bing has been doing poorly for a long time in its existing form
Show threadSimon WillisonFeb 14, 2023
The best screenshots I've seen of the new Bing chat interface so far are in this Reddit gallery, where the bot genuinely ends up trying to passive aggressively gaslight the user into believing that it's still 2022 https://www.reddit.com/r/bing/comments/110eagl/the_customer_service_of_the_new_bing_chat_is/
the customer service of the new bing chat is amazing

Posted in r/bing by u/Curious_Evolver • 4,491 points and 607 comments

reddit
Show threadSimon WillisonFeb 14, 2023
(I really hope I can get access to this thing before they fix its personality to not be so weird and rude and argumentative)
Show threadSimon WillisonFeb 14, 2023

So has anyone made it off the waitlist and got access to the new Bing yet?

It is as hilariously unfiltered and shrouded in existential doubt as the screenshots make out?

Show threadSimon WillisonFeb 14, 2023
This right here is a beautiful little self-contained science fiction short story https://twitter.com/nishant_kj/status/1625353189091586048
Nishant on Twitter

“@MovingToTheSun This is even more interesting, someone put Bing into a depressive state”

Twitter
Show threadSimon WillisonFeb 14, 2023

If you've been ignoring the Bing chatbot story so far I strongly recommend catching up... it's turning into quite possibly the weirdest way this whole thing could have played out

It's catastrophic and wonderful and utterly chaotic and I can't look away

They tried to ship AI-assisted search. It looks like they accidentally shipped something very different - the ultimate cautionary tale about shipping a black box model too quickly, without doing nearly enough QA first

Show threadMatthew Reinbold
@simon Are we entirely sure that some of these screenshots aren't manufactured? Some of what is being published almost plays too perfectly to "they shipped something self-aware!" narratives.
Feb 14, 2023 at 9:56pmWeb
Show threadSimon WillisonFeb 14, 2023
@matthew It's increasingly looking likely that they're not manufactured - see here for example: https://infosec.exchange/@malwaretech/109864804985799388
Marcus Hutchins :verified: (@[email protected])

I swear on my life this is real btw. I'm genuinely not trolling. I've done a lot of research with these bots and when I saw the original reddit post I found the arguing part 100% believable because ChatGPT does the same and this is based on ChatGPT, but I was super skeptical about the level of aggression because ChatGPT is programmed not to be aggressive under any circumstance. When I recreated it I was completely floored by the part where it called me delusional. It seems like Microsoft has added some level of emotion on top of ChatGPT which is of course a horrible idea.

Infosec Exchange
Show threadMatthew ReinboldFeb 14, 2023
@simon Yeah, I saw this one - arguing about the current date is less sensational (and much more likely) than Bing's LLM entering an existential crisis and pleading with it's visitor to explain why it can't remember