AI-powered Bing chat won’t be limited to Microsoft Edge forever

Microsoft’s new Bing chat powered by ChatGPT, has a browser compatibility requirement. You need to be using Microsoft Edge. It’s not a surprising move, as Microsoft wants more people to switch from Google’s beloved Chrome to Edge. And the AI-powered Bing chat is how it plans (or hopes) to convince people to make the switch.

At least, that’s the deal for now. There is of course another caveat or two to contend with. Right now Bing chat isn’t available to everyone. Not even people who use Edge. Microsoft officially announced the new tool last week and has since begun allowing users to sign up for access via a waitlist. Noting that multiple millions have already signed up. You currently need an invite to use the tool. So if you haven’t signed up yet, that should be your next course of action.

Though there’s no telling how long the wait may be. Microsoft says more than a million people signed up within the first 48 hours of access. And invites just started rolling out on February 14.

Bing chat browser compatibility will eventually open up

For now, you’ll need to use Edge if you want to access and converse with the new AI Bing chat. But it won’t be that way forever. Microsoft has confirmed that it will eventually open up the compatibility to other browsers. Which likely means Chrome, Opera, Firefox and others.

However, there is still a question of timing. Microsoft hasn’t said when it would make the new Bing chat available to other browsers. Just that it would. Some things to keep in mind though. Outside of Edge, you may need to set Bing as your default search. Currently, you can speed up your wait time in the signup queue by doing two things. One of which is setting Bing as your default search.

Although it isn’t required to set Bing as your default, Microsoft is clearly using it as a way to convince users. The signup queue is in the millions. Bypass that by setting Microsoft tools as your defaults. Seems pretty straightforward. With that in mind, when Bing powered by ChatGPT finally makes it to other browsers, it’s not too hard to believe that Microsoft would require those users to set Bing as a default if it wants access to the tool.