Microsoft now shows a Copilot ad on Bing, when searching for other AI models

Thanks to a new ad, Microsoft is letting users experience Copilot in Bing when searching for other AI models on this engine. We noticed the new trend in Edge Dev, and every time we looked for other models, such as ChatGPT or Claude, Bing would pop up a separate box at the top of the page, allowing us to ask Copilot a question.

However, Microsoft doesn’t stop here. We also discovered Edge plasters Copilot ads in the browser’s Settings page. We spotted it on Edge Canary, so it seems that the strategy is to attract as many users as possible to try out Copilot.

Given Microsoft’s ways of forcing its customers to bump into ads for its services and products, this shouldn’t be a surprise.

This method, though, is new and also quite frustrating for promoting this AI model. Just like Microsoft has done it with Edge in the past through all sorts of bad-positioned ads, the Redmond-based tech giant is now doing it on Bing, and it might hurt the chances of this search engine becoming more popular.

Users might realise that Bing will first focus on ads and then show relevant search results. As Google’s main competitor, Microsoft should consider toning it down, at least in Bing.

If the newly discovered ad in Edge Setting is acceptable, the one in Bing could backfire, making users turn away from it.

What do you think about this new Copilot ad in Bing?