Bing’s AI redesign leaves the usual list of search results aside

Bing’s new search experience puts AI-generated answers at the forefront while pushing traditional search results to the side. O new layout, which is being launched for a small number of queries, populates your search results page with AI-generated summaries addressing various aspects of your question.

Microsoft has shared an early look at what this search experience will look like… and it’s quite. For the query “What is a spaghetti western?” Bing displays a summary explaining that it is a “subgenre of Western films produced by Italian filmmakers,” along with a series of markers of the genre’s main characteristics.

I know this feature hasn’t been fully implemented yet, but as a Bing and Edge user (we exist!), I’m hoping it’s optional or comes with an off switch. Cutting off search descriptions after two lines is especially problematic and would make it harder for me to read the first page of the actual search results.

But Bing’s new layout goes beyond general summaries. With the query about spaghetti westerns, you’ll see a synopsis about the history and origins of the genre after going through the initial response, along with related videos, a chart of the best and most influential films, and even details about music. That’s a lot of information for a single page, some of which you may not even need. Microsoft lists its sources below each section, while all the links you normally click appear in a thin column on the right side of the screen.

As noted by Microsoft, the new experience combines Bing search with language models large and small. “It understands the search query, analyzes millions of information sources, dynamically combines content, and generates search results in a new AI-generated layout to meet the user’s query intent more effectively,” the company says.

Microsoft is also taking into account the potential impact on search traffic. It states that early data suggests that it “maintains the number of clicks on websites and supports a healthy web ecosystem”.