\n<\/p>\n
Microsoft doesn\u2019t want its rivals to use Bing\u2019s search index to power their AI chatbots, according to a report from Bloomberg<\/em><\/a>. The company reportedly told two unnamed Bing-powered search engines that it will restrict them from accessing Microsoft\u2019s search data altogether if they continue using it with their AI tools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As noted by Bloomberg<\/em>, Microsoft licenses out Bing\u2019s search data to several search engines, including DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and the AI search engine You.com<\/a>. While DuckDuckGo, for example, uses a combination<\/a> of Bing and its own web crawler to provide search results, You.com<\/a> and Neeva<\/a> also pull some of their results from Bing, helping to conserve some of the time and resources that come along with crawling the entire web.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Microsoft apparently draws the line at using Bing\u2019s search index as fodder for AI chatbots, however. Sources close to the situation tell Bloomberg<\/em> that Microsoft believes using Bing\u2019s data in this way is a violation of its contract, and that it may choose to terminate its agreements with the search engines accused of misusing this information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been in touch with partners who are out of compliance as we continue to consistently enforce our terms across the board,\u201d Microsoft tells Bloomberg<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to work with them directly and provide any information needed to find a path forward.\u201d It\u2019s unclear whether Microsoft took action against any search engines, and the company didn\u2019t immediately respond to The Verge<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n With more companies like Google<\/a> introducing their takes on OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT chatbot, Microsoft likely wants to make its own search data exclusive to Bing\u2019s chatbot. The tool is already powered by OpenAI\u2019s GPT-4<\/a>, the latest and most powerful version of the company\u2019s language model, and is capable of answering various questions<\/a>, creating summaries, generating code, writing social media posts, and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n