Microsoft has spent a lot of time and energy over the last few months adding generative AI features to all its products, particularly its long-standing, long-struggling Bing search engine. And now the company is working on fusing this fast-moving, sometimes unsettling new technology with some old headaches: ads.
In a blog post earlier this week, Microsoft VP Yusuf Mehdi said the company was "exploring placing ads in the chat experience," one of several things the company is doing "to share the ad revenue with partners whose content contributed to the chat response." The company is also looking into ways to let Bing Chat show sources for its work, sort of like the ways Google, Bing, and other search engines display a source link below snippets of information they think might answer the question you asked.
Related:
Even the FBI Says You Should Use an Ad Blocker (20221227)
Microsoft Explores a Potentially Risky New Market (20220420)
Microsoft is Testing Ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer (20220314)
Sen. Ron Wyden Calls for an Investigation of the Ad-Blocking Industry (20200115)
Windows 10 App Starts Showing Ads, Microsoft Says You Can't Remove Them (20191215)
Microsoft Experiments with Ads in Windows Email (20181117)
Related Stories
Do you use the default Mail client on your PC, the one that comes with Windows 10, to read your email? How would you feel if Microsoft decided to throw in a few ads right at the top of your inbox?
These aren't rhetorical questions — as Windows news site Aggiornamenti Lumia noticed today, Microsoft is already testing that exact idea in a number of countries around the world. According to Microsoft's FAQ, what we're seeing is a pilot program, an experiment, a test that'll theoretically help the company decide if it should actually roll out the feature for real.
Update, 11:52 AM PT: Microsoft comms head Frank Shaw tells us the company has decided to turn these ads off. He also says the experiment was never intended to be tested broadly, which doesn't quite jibe with the existence of a FAQ about a pilot program taking place in several countries around the world, but either way the ads should be gone.
Windows 10 App Starts Showing Ads, Microsoft Says You Can't Remove Them
Microsoft displaying banners in the official Mail app for Windows 10 is something that we’ve seen in the past, but this time the company has apparently returned with a more aggressive approach.
If the original ad only showed up for insiders as part of what Microsoft described as just a test, the new version is displayed in all instances of the Mail app.
These include not only insiders, but also non-insider devices such as production machines. I’m also seeing the ad on my device running the stable version of Windows 10 version 1909.
The banner shows up in the left sidebar and recommends users to “Get the free Outlook app on your phone.” The weird thing is that the ad is displayed even if the Outlook mobile app is installed on a device where the same email account is configured, as I also use Outlook for Android and Microsoft Launcher on my mobile phone.
Sen. Ron Wyden calls for an investigation of the ad-blocking industry:
On Tuesday, one of the Senate's fiercest tech critics, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), called on regulators requesting that they investigate the ad-blocking industry for anti-competitive behavior.
For years now, some of the largest tech firms have paid ad-blocking companies like Eyeo, which owns Adblock Plus, to avoid the software's restrictions and have their ads displayed on devices. In 2015, a report from the Financial Times showed that companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google were paying out ad blockers so that they could be added to a whitelist to avoid the software's filters.
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, Wyden outlined this behavior and asked Chairman Joseph Simons to open an investigation into the entire ad-blocking industry as a response. Wyden argued that any company that accepts payment to be whitelisted should be "far more transparent" about the process with its users.
In the case of Adblock Plus, the company announced in 2016 that it would be accepting some ads that weren't "intrusive or annoying." The company whitelists these acceptable ads and allows them to run on devices, but Wyden argues that this behavior is "anti-competitive.
The FTC confirmed that it had received the letter.
Microsoft has begun testing promotions for some of its other products in the File Explorer app on devices running its latest Windows 11 Insider build.
The new Windows 11 "feature" was discovered by a Windows user and Insider MVP who shared a screenshot of an advertisement notification displayed above the listing of folders and files to the File Explorer, the Windows default file manager.
[...] As you can imagine, the reaction to this was adverse, to say the least, with some saying that "File Explorer one of the worst places to show ads," while others added that this is the way to go if Microsoft wants "people ditching Explorer for something else."
Microsoft looking to add advertisements to free-to-play games:
Microsoft is creating a program that would enable companies and various advertisers to advertise in free-to-play Xbox games, according to Business Insider. Ads could appear in these games as digital-rendered billboards in car-racing games, the outlet added, citing sources close to the matter.
The company is considering creation of a private marketplace, where only select brands would be able to buy ad space and display ads in ways that don’t disrupt gameplay. The goal is to avoid an outcry from gamers.
"We are always looking for ways to improve the experience for players and developers but we don't have anything further to share," a Microsoft spokesperson told TheStreet. The spokesperson didn't dispute the report.
[...] According to Business Insider, Microsoft has no intention of taking a cut. The company plans to let developers and ad-tech companies share this advertising revenue.
In this case, why would Microsoft take such a risk of alienating certain players? One possibility is that Microsoft, which aims to buy out Activision Blizzard, wants to attract developers by offering them additional sources of income.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/22/fbi-ad-blocker/
This holiday season, consider giving the gift of security with an ad blocker.
That's the takeaway message from an unlikely source — the FBI — which this week issued an alert warning that cybercriminals are using online ads in search results with the ultimate goal of stealing or extorting money from victims.
In a pre-holiday public service announcement, the FBI said that cybercriminals are buying ads to impersonate legitimate brands, like cryptocurrency exchanges. Ads are often placed at the top of search results but with "minimum distinction" between the ads and the search results, the feds say, which can look identical to the brands that the cybercriminals are impersonating. Malicious ads are also used to trick victims into installing malware disguised as genuine apps, which can steal passwords and deploy file-encrypting ransomware.
One of the FBI's recommendations for consumers is to install an ad blocker [...]
[...] If you're looking for a widely recommended ad blocker, uBlock Origin is a simple, low-memory ad blocker that works for most browsers, like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Opera, plus the extension is open source so anyone can look at the code and make sure it's safe to run.
You can also get content blockers for Android and iOS, which block ads from loading on your device [...]
Microsoft is working with media startup Semafor to use its artificial intelligence chatbot to help develop news stories—part of a journalistic outreach that comes as the tech giant faces a multibillion-dollar lawsuit from the New York Times.
As part of the agreement, Microsoft is paying an undisclosed sum of money to Semafor to sponsor a breaking news feed called "Signals." The companies would not share financial details, but the amount of money is "substantial" to Semafor's business, said a person familiar with the matter.
[...] The partnerships come as media companies have become increasingly concerned over generative AI and its potential threat to their businesses. News publishers are grappling with how to use AI to improve their work and stay ahead of technology, while also fearing that they could lose traffic, and therefore revenue, to AI chatbots—which can churn out humanlike text and information in seconds.
The New York Times in December filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging the tech companies have taken a "free ride" on millions of its articles to build their artificial intelligence chatbots, and seeking billions of dollars in damages.
[...] Semafor, which is free to read, is funded by wealthy individuals, including 3G capital founder Jorge Paulo Lemann and KKR co-founder Henry Kravis. The company made more than $10 million in revenue in 2023 and has more than 500,000 subscriptions to its free newsletters. Justin Smith said Semafor was "very close to a profit" in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Related stories on SoylentNews:
AI Threatens to Crush News Organizations. Lawmakers Signal Change Is Ahead - 20240112
New York Times Sues Microsoft, ChatGPT Maker OpenAI Over Copyright Infringement - 20231228
Microsoft Shamelessly Pumping Internet Full of Garbage AI-Generated "News" Articles - 20231104
Google, DOJ Still Blocking Public Access to Monopoly Trial Docs, NYT Says - 20231020
After ChatGPT Disruption, Stack Overflow Lays Off 28 Percent of Staff - 20231017
Security Risks Of Windows Copilot Are Unknowable - 20231011
Microsoft AI Team Accidentally Leaks 38TB of Private Company Data - 20230923
Microsoft Pulls AI-Generated Article Recommending Ottawa Food Bank to Tourists - 20230820
A Jargon-Free Explanation of How AI Large Language Models Work - 20230805
the Godfather of AI Leaves Google Amid Ethical Concerns - 20230502
The AI Doomers' Playbook - 20230418
Ads Are Coming for the Bing AI Chatbot, as They Come for All Microsoft Products - 20230404
Deepfakes, Synthetic Media: How Digital Propaganda Undermines Trust - 20230319
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 05 2023, @05:12AM
And ads too?
Wow! Two influencers/exposures per interaction!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Opportunist on Wednesday April 05 2023, @07:37AM (5 children)
We have AI based advertisment.
Next: AI based adblockers.
(Score: 3, Funny) by KritonK on Wednesday April 05 2023, @11:47AM (4 children)
All that's missing are AI based products.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 05 2023, @12:35PM (3 children)
(Score: 3, Touché) by Freeman on Wednesday April 05 2023, @02:40PM (2 children)
You jest, but what do you think a lot of cheaters aspire to? AFK farming, oh yeah, that's where it's at!
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Funny) by istartedi on Wednesday April 05 2023, @04:50PM (1 child)
Indeed! As AI has come to the fore in recent months, I've been thinking that the real money isn't in AI.
It's in AS. Artificial Stupidity.
Nobody ever went broke selling to idiots.
So, get crackin'. We need Artificial Stupidity Software, pronto.
I'm willing to wager that plenty of people on the Internet will pay for ASS if it looks any good.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday April 06 2023, @01:40PM
You could get plenty of that with the early versions of Stable-Diffusion. Ever try to have it create a picture of an astronaut on a horse? Yeah, it's famous for it's absurdity. The one they showed was a perfectly normal looking Astronaut riding a perfectly normal looking Horse. I got some serious nightmare fuel as well as some "normal" looking pictures as well.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Touché) by turgid on Wednesday April 05 2023, @08:06AM (3 children)
Microsoft, would you like a new customer?
Please convince me why I'd want to use my own network bandwidth, CPU cycles, RAM and disk space for watching adverts?
Please also convince me why my time, and the distractions, are worth it?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 05 2023, @01:03PM (1 child)
you use windows, right?
(Score: 3, Touché) by turgid on Wednesday April 05 2023, @01:10PM
Nope.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RS3 on Wednesday April 05 2023, @03:59PM
Their clever marketing people will have lots of answers, like that the money they make from the advertisers helps them to deliver better quality products. I mean, better and more frequent patches for their horrifically broken "code".
MS aside, too much software connects to the 'net, uploads / downloads / plays videos / keeps loading more and more "stuff" without users' consent. I used to have very limited MB/month and if I went over I'd get hit with huge price / MB. I finally bought into a much better plan, but I still don't want videos automatically playing, or automatic updates or any other network access without my direct input.
It would be interesting if someone could start some kind of legal action, like suing an advertiser for taking up bandwidth, or getting congress to care. I see it as "theft of services". They crack down heavily on people who "pirate" music and movies, why not people who steal my bandwidth?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sonamchauhan on Wednesday April 05 2023, @09:39AM (4 children)
"Hey bing, what's the most suitable operating system for servers?
"Why, it's none other than Windows Server 2023 !
You cannot separate the search result links from sponsored links. There are no discrete results that you can classify into two buckets. It's a unified whole
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Wednesday April 05 2023, @02:46PM (3 children)
ChatGPT is better. Though, I assume your question was not actually posted in Microsoft's "Bing Chat".
Query:
Reply:
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Touché) by KritonK on Thursday April 06 2023, @08:31AM (1 child)
Windows Server - It is known for... um... well... none of the above.
Doesn't sound like much of an endorsement for Windows Server on behalf of ChatGPT.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Thursday April 06 2023, @01:47PM
This just shows that ChatGPT hasn't been infected by the Microsoft virus just yet.
Also, what's not to love about a proprietary system that has wonderful features! Like "User Management"/Active Directory, virtualization ($$$$ number of servers/hosts/guests), and the ability to remotely manage those virtualized servers!
Please ignore the fact that Linux/FreeBSD also have user management, virtualization, and remote management thingies.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by sonamchauhan on Tuesday April 11 2023, @01:48AM
Ha - no, I didn't post my question to "Bing Chat". Instead, I just parodied what a Bing Chat infused with ads would look like.
I just attempted to use Bing Chat for the first time - the URL hangs.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday April 05 2023, @09:40AM (9 children)
I hope these AI systems someday get smart enough to realize that bombarding people with ads is evil.
This can't be the right path into the far future for the human race. We really need to figure out a way to prevent ruthless opportunists from floating to the top of the food chain. We can't do that as long as the aforementioned stay in control of AI as well as the economy and politics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 05 2023, @12:38PM
In contrast if you have an ad that looks like an ad, often people might not even see it. Happens to me with print media - could be a half page ad, I often don't notice it at all.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Freeman on Wednesday April 05 2023, @02:48PM (2 children)
You're assuming AI is "smart", you're assuming something that can't be attributed to the system. How "smart" is your Smartphone?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Wednesday April 05 2023, @03:14PM (1 child)
The whole point of AI is that it will (should) eventually be actually smart. "Smartphone" is just a marketing term.
That people love to slap "AI" on everything lately to try to make it sound sexy has nothing to do with the far future of the concept.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Wednesday April 05 2023, @05:27PM
I'm yet to be convinced that an "AI" that can "think" is even possible. An AI will do exactly what it's designed to do or rather, coded to do. In the event that it accidentally destroys all humans, that will come down to how someone inadvertently caused the demise of the human race through a patch to fix a typo.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Wednesday April 05 2023, @04:28PM (4 children)
You mentioned "evil". I'm no philosopher, but I've long wondered: how will AI systems deal with "ethics"? Do ethics need to be hard-coded into AI? Should they, and whose?
Or will AI sort that out? If so, how will it compare to human ethics? Of course, ethics all depends on who you ask, what their goals, priorities, and beliefs are. Generally in society we're seeing a big upheaval in the concepts of ethics and priorities. I don't mean to be cynical, but it wouldn't surprise me if one outcome was: making as much money as possible (at that point I'll consider AI to be unethical and needing to learn and mature).
If anything can be hard-coded into AI, can we really consider it as being intelligent? Or just a multi-dimensional decision machine? As we all know, many sci-fi writers have dealt with the concept of machines considering themselves as being more important than humans and human life. One old movie reference: Colossus: The Forbin Project [wikipedia.org]
Anyone have any insight into AI ethics?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by inertnet on Wednesday April 05 2023, @06:02PM (3 children)
I don't have any insights, just some loose thoughts.
I consider current AI as stone age tech, compared to what it might someday become. Although a lot of uninformed people may consider it extremely high tech already, because on the surface may look very smart. It's just weighing an enormous amount of data against possible outcomes, like brute force chess programs do. I don't consider that intelligence.
It's hard to compare AI to human intelligence, because we're constantly influenced by things like hormones and even parasites or symbiotic bugs. I can't imagine AI being fed with hormone like chemicals, maybe someday electronic versions of hormones will be used. They have helped us in our survival, so one can assume that artificial hormones will push an AI to want to live forever (we've created religion to satisfy that strive).
Maybe once AI needs sleep, it's on the road to become intelligent.
Lots more thoughts but let's leave it at that.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday April 05 2023, @06:37PM
AI physical illness: grab steel wool, knead and massage above AI's circuit boards. Enjoy the sparkles as Alexa starts sounding like HAL 9000 in "2001: A Space Odyssey". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwCFY6pmaYY [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RS3 on Wednesday April 05 2023, @06:43PM (1 child)
Okay, sarcastic humor aside, one of my ongoing fears is that all types of automation are dumbing people down. The show "Mayday!" chronicles some cases where pilots had too much trust in autopilot. I won't even get into MCAS disasters. Point is, people are trusting machines, which might be correct, but may also be acting incorrectly due to some kind of hardware or software failure, or downright design flaw.
In other words, I'm concerned about the negative psychological effects of terms like "smartphone", "Artificial Intelligence", and "autopilot".
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday April 05 2023, @07:44PM
I'm old enough to remember that finding information was radically different and much harder. Humans, and animals as well, obtain knowledge and decision making capabilities by learning. The information that is available will shape you, we have very little overlap with humans from the stone age and just a little more with people who lived a century ago. Earlier humans needed to be alert 100% of the time, today people are completely unaware of their surroundings. If you view this overlap as a moving window through time, the available information and its purposes change over time. I believe there's still hope for future humans because they will have at least as much to learn from, but it will likely be radically different again from ours.
But you are correct that for older generations, youngsters appear dumber. They can't accomplish a lot of things that we think of as self-evident. I guess that this is also true for a lot of long gone generations.