Fed up with the Bing AI chatbots attitude? Now you can change its personality

When ChatGPT first appeared in November 2022, many educators and academic institutions responded with blanket bans, unsure whether these tools were more likely to spark innovation or cheating. The jury is still out on that, but administrators have started to relax some policies and give teachers greater freedom to direct when they can be used. The new “AI friend” chatbot that Instagram appears to be developing seems to be designed to facilitate more open-ended conversations. The development of the “AI friend” feature comes as controversies around AI chatbots have been emerging over the past year.

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Doubtless there will be plenty of experimentation with the chat modes to determine exactly how these three personalities are different. Two philosophy professors told Insider they’ve already caught students trying to pass off AI-generated content as their own. They say they’re worried the bot’s output will get harder to catch and that AI plagiarism is hard to prove within current academic rules. Heralded by some as a major threat to traditional search engines, OpenAI’s chatbot and Microsoft’s reported plans to invest $10 billion into it, following a $1 billion prior investment, appear to have unnerved Google. ChatGPT has already been compared with the launch of the iPhone and the crypto boom but while the tech’s long-term influence remains to be seen, people are already finding creative ways to use it. The AI chatbot from OpenAI has only been around for two months and has already amassed more than one million users.

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Built atop ChatGPT-4, the program begins by asking for details about a class, including a course description, learning outcomes, required textbooks and a syllabus. Then, it breaks down the course into ‘priming sessions’ spread out over the semester. Months before, she’d poured the biographies and publications of her five committee members into ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot developed by OpenAI in San Francisco, California, and used it to create digital simulacrums of each person. She then fed the mimics her research proposal and asked the program to respond as her committee might, asking detailed questions and identifying gaps in her knowledge. The actual meeting “went pretty much like ChatGPT said it would,” says Ivich, who passed with flying colours. Thus far, the ‘Creative’ setting seems to be getting the most positive feedback, and this is likely the one many Bing users are plumping for.

• Chatter about the new tech has stretched far beyond the business world and even managed to provoke the disdain of award-winning songwriter Nick Cave.
• As you can see, at the time of the tweet, 90% of Bing chatbot users had the tri-toggle chat selector that lets you switch between three different personalities for the AI (Precise, Balanced, or Creative).
• Thus far, the ‘Creative’ setting seems to be getting the most positive feedback, and this is likely the one many Bing users are plumping for.
• By the time her comprehensive exams rolled around in August 2024, Adriana Ivich had done nearly everything she could to prepare herself.
• Users would be able to chat with the AI to “answer questions, talk through any challenges, brainstorm ideas and much more,” according to screenshots of the feature.

• Earlier this week, we saw other work on the AI to reduce what are called ‘hallucinations’ (where the chatbot gives inaccurate info, or plain makes a mistake).
• Initial feedback indicates that in Creative mode Bing gives more detailed answers, not just adding a more personal touch, but seemingly fleshing out replies to a greater depth.
• Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch a Bing feature that incorporates the tech behind ChatGPT.
• Simply because this is where the AI has the most free rein, and so will seem more human-like – rather than ‘Precise’ mode which is more like a straight answer to a search query.

They did say the letters lacked personality and suggested job-seekers use the chatbot as more of a jumping-off point. Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch a Bing feature that incorporates the tech behind ChatGPT. The feature, which aims to provide users with answers to some searches rather than just displaying relevant links, could surface by the end of March, The Information reported. Other students, such as Jan Bartkowiak, who is studying economics at Minerva University in San Francisco, California, have made chatbots that emulate famous historical figures to interrogate their thinking. Sami Melhem, who is studying computer science at Texas A&M University in College Station, created his own chatbot, Class Primer, to tutor him.

In December, Google’s management issued a “code red” amid the launch of ChatGPT, per The New York Times. The outlet reported that the conversational chatbot sparked concerns over the future of Google’s search engine. Launched on November 30, the chatbot has impressed — and riled — many different people. Chatter about the new tech has stretched far beyond the business world and even managed to provoke the disdain of award-winning songwriter Nick Cave. Another space in which students have successfully channelled the usefulness of generative AI is in streamlining their workflows. By using AI as a type of personal assistant, tools can quickly pull together information, prepare schedules and free up precious time.

Once you have made your selections, you would be able to select an avatar and a name for your AI friend. You would then be taken to a chat window, where you could click a button to start conversing with the AI.

‘Code-red’ for search engines

Court heard a case where a man claimed that an AI chatbot had encouraged him to attempt to kill the late Queen Elizabeth days before he broke into the grounds of Windsor Castle. In March, the widow of a Belgian man who died by suicide claimed that an AI chatbot had convinced him to kill himself. Initial feedback indicates that in Creative mode Bing gives more detailed answers, not just adding a more personal touch, but seemingly fleshing out replies to a greater depth. Especially as this setting is where you’re going to get the more interesting – or perhaps occasionally eccentric, or even outlandish – responses.

Instagram has been spotted developing an “AI friend” feature that users would be able to customize to their liking and then converse with, according to screenshots shared by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi. Users would be able to chat with the AI to “answer questions, talk through any challenges, brainstorm ideas and much more,” according to screenshots of the feature. The remaining control group (10%) then had the selector rolled out to them across the course of yesterday, so everyone should have it by now. That’s good news for those who want more options when it comes to the chatbot’s responses to their queries. Microsoft’s Bing chatbot is now offering a choice of personalities for all users, with the rollout of the Bing Chat Mode selector having been completed. The hiring managers were largely impressed and both said they’d most likely follow up with a screening call for at least one of the letters.