Microsoft to Retire Bing Search APIs, Promote Azure AI Agents

Microsoft said Monday (May 12) that it will retire Bing Search APIs on Aug. 11.

“Any existing instances of Bing Search APIs will be decommissioned completely, and the product will no longer be available for usage or new customer signup,” the company said in an Azure Update.

Microsoft suggested in the update that customers may consider as an alternative Grounding with Bing Search as part of Azure AI Agents.

“Grounding with Bing Search allows Azure AI Agents to incorporate real-time public web data when generating responses with an LLM,” the update said.

Bing Search APIs supply software developers with a raw feed of Bing search results, Wired reported Wednesday (May 14). The product’s users include search engines that pay a fee to Microsoft and present the Bing search results to their own users.

By limiting access to this search data, Microsoft is shifting its focus to chatbots, as Grounding with Bing Search is a service that enables chatbots to add real-time public web data to their AI-generated responses, according to the report.

The new AI-powered system provides summaries rather than raw search results, per the report.

Microsoft spokesperson Donny Turnbaugh told Wired that the company’s pivot to this newer offering “better meets market demand for having AI solutions” and that Microsoft has a “support plan in place” for customers affected by the change.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said in April 2023 that generative AI had triggered a “generational shift” in web search.

Speaking of the state of web search and AI features Microsoft had added at the time, Nadella said that “when people use these new AI features, their engagement with Bing and Edge goes up. As we look towards a future where chat becomes a new way for people to seek information, consumers have real choice in business models and modalities with Azure-powered chat entry points across Bing, Edge, Windows and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. We look forward to continuing this journey in what is a generational shift in the largest software category, search.”

On May 5, it was reported that Microsoft’s strategy to install AI as a default feature in its software may be paying off, as the company saw a 10% rise in revenue from consumer subscriptions to Office 365 in the three months ending in March compared to a year ago.

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