Bing Chat support is rolling out to non-Microsoft browsers

Microsoft is in the process of rolling out Bing Chat support for non-Microsoft browsers. Interested users who try to access Bing Chat in another web browser currently, e.g., Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, get an intermediary page currently that informs them that the new Bing is only available in Microsoft Edge.

The limitation is not technical in nature; Microsoft made the decision to limit Bing Chat to its own Microsoft Edge web browser. One of Microsoft’s intentions was to give Microsoft Edge a push, hoping that users would switch to it if they found Bing Chat a valuable service.

Downside to the exclusivity is that the majority of Internet users are kept from trying Bing Chat or at least limited, as the browser is not their main application when it comes to browsing the Internet.

Mikhail Parakhin, Microsoft’s head of Advertising and Web Services revealed at the end of May 2023 that Microsoft would begin experiments to enable third-party browser support.

Parakhin confirmed today on Twitter that Microsoft has started to enable Bing Chat on some third-party browsers for some users. The new feature will roll out gradually, but Parakhin did not mention the timeframe nor list the web browsers that Microsoft was enabling Bing Chat for.

Third-party web browser users could enforce access to Bing Chat by changing their browser’s useragent. This is confirmation that the Microsoft Edge limitation is artificial and not based on technical requirements.

Support for third-party browsers would expand the potential audience significantly. Microsoft’s Edge web browser has a worldwide market share of 5.32% according to Statcounter. While the numbers are not 100% accurate, it does highlight the potential of unlocking Bing Chat for other browsers. Google Chrome leads the worldwide stats with a market share of over 62%. Safari is second, with 20.7%.

Microsoft Edge’s market share is a bit better on desktop platforms. Its share is 9.94% according to Statcounter.

Closing Words

Has Bing Chat usage plateaued? Support for other web browsers could certainly help accelerated the growth of the service. It is unclear why Microsoft is tight lipped about the experimental rollout for other browsers. It could be worried that Edge would lose users once support for other browsers is enabled.

The Microsoft Account limitations still exists, and it seems as if it not going away anytime soon-

Microsoft increased the turn limit of Bing Chat again last week. The new limit is 300 chat turns per day and 30 turns per session. A turn is made up of the input from a user and the reply from the AI.

Now You: would you start using Bing Chat if it would be available in other browsers? (via Neowin)

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