Microsoft has just announced that Bing, their search engine, is getting a new feature that lets users create images by simply describing what they want to see. Bing Image Creator is an AI-powered tool that generates images based on text descriptions provided by the user.
The new tool is being rolled out to Bing preview users, and will be fully integrated into the chat experience. It will initially be available in Creative mode, with plans to make it available in Balanced and Precise mode over time.
According to Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft, the human brain processes visual information about 60,000 times faster than text.
This makes visual tools a critical way people search, create, and gain understanding. Based on Bing data, images are one of the most searched categories – second only to general web searches. Historically, search was limited to images that already existed on the web. Now, there are almost no limits to what you can search for and create.
Bing Image Creator is powered by an advanced version of the DALL∙E model from Microsoft’s partners at OpenAI. The tool allows users to create images by typing in a description of an image, providing additional context like location or activity, and choosing an art style.
The AI then generates an image from the user’s imagination. This makes Bing Image Creator a “creative copilot” that helps users generate both written and visual content in one place, from within chat.
The new feature is part of Microsoft’s commitment to responsible AI. The company is working closely with OpenAI to ensure that Image Creator encourages responsible use of the tool.
For example, controls are in place to limit the generation of harmful or unsafe images. When the system detects that a potentially harmful image could be generated by a prompt, it blocks the prompt and warns the user.
Microsoft also makes it clear that Image Creator’s images are generated by AI, and includes a modified Bing icon in the bottom left corner of each image to help indicate that the image was created using Image Creator.
In addition to Bing Image Creator, Microsoft is also making new AI-powered visual Stories and updated Knowledge Cards available to all Bing users. Stories provide a more engaging way to search and interact with content, offering images and short videos.
Knowledge Cards 2.0 is an AI-powered infographic-inspired experience that provides fun facts and key information at a glance. It’s been updated to include interactive, dynamic content like charts, graphs, timelines, visual stories and more.
