Google still has nothing to worry about following Bing's AI resurgence

The Bing app on the Galaxy S22
(Image credit: Android Central)

What you need to know

  • New numbers show how the market share compares between Google and Microsoft search engines.
  • Bing market share has dropped compared to last year despite a seeming rise in popularity following the OpenAI integration.
  • Google still commands the highest market share at just under 90%.

Microsoft seemed to be sitting pretty when it integrated OpenAI's ChatGPT tech into Bing, transforming the search engine into a gateway into the company's new generative AI features. However, the latest numbers show that Bing's market share hasn't exactly benefited from Microsoft's head start in this new AI craze.

Statcounter released some market share numbers for the major search engines, giving us a look at how Bing has fared since the generative AI craze kicked off (via Windows Central). Unfortunately, as of October 2023, Bing's market share sits at just under 7% in the United States, down year over year from 7.4%. In fact, throughout 2023 thus far, Bing's market share has remained under 7%.

Meanwhile, Google, rather unsurprisingly, has remained king of the search engines, with its market share sitting at 88% as of October 2023.

(Image credit: Statcounter)

While it's expected that Google would maintain its spot, it's a little surprising (and concerning) that Bing's market share hasn't seen a significant uptick. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that the search engine had reached a significant milestone with 100 million daily active users. This was not long after Bing launched a preview of its generative AI capabilities, with users able to sign up to try them out.

Microsoft seemingly had quite the head start bringing generative AI to its consumer-facing products, with Google taking a more steady approach. The new supercharged Bing is integrated into other experiences from Microsoft, such as the new Windows Copilot. However, the aggressive push did not seem to pay off.

Meanwhile, despite the slow and steady approach, Google eventually began integrating its generative AI features into Search with the new Search Generative Experience, bringing features like article summaries when browsing, stable diffusion for image generation, and more. The new generative AI Search experience is now available in more than 120 countries and territories, supporting multiple languages.

Of course, it's worth noting that while Google has maintained its high market share, that's actually the subject of an ongoing trial brought on by the Justice Department and several states. The claim is that Google attained its search dominance through anti-competitive means, such as deals made with companies like Apple to make Google Search the default on iPhones, in addition to the millions of Android phones available globally.

Derrek Lee
Managing Editor

Derrek is the managing editor of Android Central, helping to guide the site's editorial content and direction to reach and resonate with readers, old and new, who are just as passionate about tech as we are. He's been obsessed with mobile technology since he was 12, when he discovered the Nokia N90, and his love of flip phones and new form factors continues to this day. As a fitness enthusiast, he has always been curious about the intersection of tech and fitness. When he's not working, he's probably working out.

  • SyCoREAPER
    Google has plenty to worry about. BARD is as dumb as a bag of concrete. It's something you'd expect to see in the early days of AI, not this late in the game.
    Reply
  • Village_Idiot
    SyCoREAPER said:
    Google has plenty to worry about. BARD is as dumb as a bag of concrete. It's something you'd expect to see in the early days of AI, not this late in the game.
    I prefer the term, "smart as a sack of wet hammers."
    Reply
  • fuzzylumpkin
    SyCoREAPER said:
    Google has plenty to worry about. BARD is as dumb as a bag of concrete. It's something you'd expect to see in the early days of AI, not this late in the game.
    You think it's late in the game?
    Reply
  • SyCoREAPER
    fuzzylumpkin said:
    You think it's late in the game?
    AI is in it's early stages. Joining that AI race is late. Bard is no more intelligent than Google Assistant. Often even less so. I've caught it giving me inaccurate info multiple times.

    BARD is simply another toy Google isnt/hasn't put enough effort into and will lag behind unless there is some major revelation holding it back.

    Between Bings GPT4 and OpenAI's Free (GPT3.5), they are graduating elementary school and BARD is still in Kindergarten.
    Reply
  • Village_Idiot
    This is about Bing market share compared to Google market share. It is not really about AI. Google is still leading the internet search market. Microsoft is leading in the AI realm. They are two different things.
    Reply