- Microsoft has a new (and something questionable) promotion is going on
- It happens when searching for a rival AI -Service on Bing
- A copilot -banner appears at the top of the results and it is easy for users to mistakenly use it instead of AI they were really looking for
Microsoft is up to some sneaky tricks again in terms of promoting his own services, and this time it is Copilot AI, who is now being pushed on those who use bing search.
As Windows latest reports if you go to bing.com and search for a major AI service competing with Microsoft’s own copilot – which means Chatgpt, Google Gemini or Claude AI – you get a copilot banner that shows up.
This is shown right at the top of the search and announces that ‘Your Copilot is here’ and offers a quick to ask Microsoft’s AI ‘Something’. You can then write an inquiry in the presented box if you want and it opens the Copilot website with the results.
This behavior is implemented through the Bing Search site itself, so it happens if you go to Bing.com in any web browser (not just edge).
Analysis: Spotlight and Shadow
While Copilot Banner, which Bing Search serves, is branded as ‘promoted by Microsoft’, the company has chosen a very small font for the special detail, so it’s easy enough to miss.
In fact, the way the search result is laid in this scenario is quite misleading in a few aspects. Then you say you are looking for chatgpt in the bing, the chatgpt site is the top result (which you would of course would expect), but the way the copilot ban is right over, it may be fooling you into thinking that the query box is actually for chatgpt. Some people may not be aware of it and then end up redirected to the Copilot website with their query, which is clearly the idea. If the copilot banner was presented to the page, for example – out of the way – this would be much less likely to happen.
If you leave the Bing Search tab after Chatgpt (or the other AI services mentioned) and then return to it, the copilot -banned is actually highlighted in light white, with the rest of the results grayed out. The banner is effectively illuminated – check the above screen to see what I mean – so people are even more likely to be drawn to it, especially if they are not technically knowledgeable and do not really look at the page properly.
All in all, this feels like a bit unwelcome duplicity, but in fact it is nothing new to Microsoft – or other tech giants, for that matter. Microsoft is particularly eager to get people to use their edge browser in some way, including if you try to download Chrome. In fact, search for Chrome in Bing.com results in a very similar ‘promoted by Microsoft’ banner at the top of the results (and we have seen yet shady movements than this in the past).
And yes, Google is also drawing this kind of chicanery, and if you go to Google.com, you will be asked to make use of his AI, Gemini, with a pop-up. That said, if you search for ‘copilot’ on Google, you won’t get Gemini inserted in the viewfinder results in the same way Microsoft does with copilot in Bing.
In any case, although it is very unlikely that this kind of promotional rubbish will ever disappear, it is disappointing to see a somewhat more obvious example from Microsoft here – especially in the highlight of the Copilot request box if you flip away from the active tab and then switch back.
