Microsoft Pushes Bing and AI Chatbot via Intrusive Chrome Ads
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Microsoft is showing pop-up ads over Chrome on Windows to push Bing and promote Bing's GPT-4 chatbot. The ads set Bing as the default Chrome search engine without asking.
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When users try to undo the default search engine change, Microsoft shows another message urging them not to revert back to Google, saying they'll lose GPT-4 access.
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Microsoft confirmed these are real pop-up ads, calling them a one-time notification for choice, despite the dark pattern design.
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This follows a history of Microsoft nagging users to switch browsers and search engines, like on the Chrome download page.
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The pop-ups come amid regulatory scrutiny into browser defaults and search dominance, yet may undermine Microsoft's arguments around choice.