Microsoft Advertising · Status at source date: Newsletter archive
Bing ships an AI opt-out toggle for search results
Microsoft has shipped a preview extension that lets Bing users turn Copilot-style AI answers on or off with a single click, announced by Microsoft President and Head of Search Jordi Ribas. Users can also append "-ai" to any Bing query to suppress AI-generated responses for that search.
What changed
Ribas framed it as ensuring users feel they have a choice, citing internal research that not everyone wants AI for everything all the time.
The move is notable for what it concedes: after years of pushing generative answers above the traditional list of links, a major search engine is now offering an explicit off switch. Installing the extension also changes the browser's default search behaviour, so it serves Microsoft's distribution goals alongside user choice.
Why it matters for advertisers
For you, this means the SEO and content teams can view Bing results without AI synthesis, which is useful for checking how pages rank in the classic results beneath the AI layer. Worth using the "-ai" operator when auditing organic and paid placements that AI answers would otherwise push down the page.
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Bing ships an AI opt-out toggle for search results
Microsoft has shipped a preview extension that lets Bing users turn Copilot-style AI answers on or off with a single click, announced by Microsoft President and Head of Search Jordi Ribas. Users can also append "-ai" to any Bing query to suppress AI-generated responses for that search. Ribas framed it as ensuring users feel they have a choice, citing internal research that not everyone wants AI for everything all the time.
The move is notable for what it concedes: after years of pushing generative answers above the traditional list of links, a major search engine is now offering an explicit off switch. Installing the extension also changes the browser's default search behaviour, so it serves Microsoft's distribution goals alongside user choice.
For you, this means the SEO and content teams can view Bing results without AI synthesis, which is useful for checking how pages rank in the classic results beneath the AI layer. Worth using the "-ai" operator when auditing organic and paid placements that AI answers would otherwise push down the page.
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