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The end of Reddit? Here’s why most of the site is down – and what happens next
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If you've been finding Reddit to be a little quieter than usual today, there's a very good reason for that – most of the site's Subreddit communities have just gone dark in protest against the site's controversial charges for third-party app developers.

The blackout, which is scheduled to last for 48 hours from Monday, June 11, but could last longer, has seen 87% of Reddit's subreddits – including most of its biggest ones – go down (according to the useful Reddit blackout tracker).

This has been possible because Reddit relies on a vast army of volunteer moderators who keep discussions on topic and remove comments – but can also make subreddits private, or effectively take them 'dark'.

On Friday, June 9, Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman responded to the blackout plans by stating that the site “needs to be a self-sustaining business” and that “we respect when you and your communities take action to highlight the things you need, including, at times, going private”.

Yet the blackout could lead to something of a stand-off. Four of the biggest third-party apps for browsing Reddit – Apollo, Reddit is Fun, ReddPlanet, and Sync – have all said that they will be shutting down due to the cost of Reddit's new API (application programming interface) pricing. Apollo developer Christian Selig has said it could cost him $ 20 million  (around £15.9m / AU$ 29.5m) a year to keep the app running.

So what happens next? And when are you going to be able to get your fix of r/funny, r/mildlyinteresting, and r/catswithjobs again? Here's all the latest news about the self-styled “front page of the internet”.

Reddit blackout: why is this happening?

Back in April, Reddit announced that it would start charging developers for access to its API. This API has allowed developers to build popular, alternative smartphones apps like Apollo, which they did well before Reddit introduced its own official app in 2016.

Those charges are due to come into play from June 19, which is why many third-party apps – including Apollo and Reddit is Fun – have announced that they'll no longer be available.

While Reddit hasn't officially revealed its new API pricing details, some developers have lifted the lid on the potential costs. In a post on r/apolloapp, the developer Christian Selig said that based on the “7 billion requests” (or times a user has triggered a need for API access) it would cost him $ 1.7 million (around £1.35m / AU$ 2.51m) per month.

A laptop showing a message from the Reddit r/funny subreddit saying that it's gone private due to the blackout

(Image credit: Future)

Although Selig stated that he is “deeply disappointed in this price”, particularly as it has echoes of a similar policy by Twitter that he says was “publicly ridiculed”, Reddit has denied that it has priced out developers of all third-party apps. 

We've asked Reddit for official comment and will update this story when we hear back, but representatives told the BBC that “expansive access to data has impact and costs involved” and that it spends “millions of dollars on hosting fees”. 

Reddit added that Apollo is “notably less efficient than other third-party apps” and that “the vast majority of API users will not have to pay for access”. According to the site, “the Reddit Data API is free to use within the published rate limits so long as apps are not monetized”.

But the issue is that existing apps like Apollo aren't really feasible as entirely free propositions, given the work involved, which is why the most popular third-party apps have all stated that they'll be unable to continue.

Reddit blackout: what happens next?

The blackout is seriously damaging for Reddit's management, both in terms of reputation and revenue – and it isn't yet clear exactly how the saga is going to conclude.

Some are hopeful that Reddit will have a change of heart and at least compromise on its new API pricing. In another post on r/apolloapp on the eve of the blackout, Christian Selig states “I really hope Reddit listens” and that “I think showing humanity through apologizing for and recognizing that this process was handled poorly, and concrete promises to give developers more time, would go a long way to making people feel heard and instilling community confidence”.

Reddit application icon on Apple iPhone X smartphone screen close-up. Reddit app icon. Reddit is an online social media network.

(Image credit: BigTunaOnline via Shutterstock)

In r/Save3rdPartyApps thread announcing the protest, most subreddits stated that their subreddit communities would go private for 48 hours in protest of the new API charges. But if Reddit doesn't back down or at least compromise, it's possible that the blackout could continue for longer than that. 

We've asked Reddit for official comment on what it's doing to resolve the protests and will update this article when we hear back.

Reddit blackout: why not just use the official app?

While it'd be incredibly sad to see the end of third-party apps like Apollo, the official Reddit app would obviously live on if there's no compromise – so why couldn't fans simply switch to that?

Aside from the obvious annoyance that it'd be a forced change, there are lots of reasons why fans prefer third-party apps. One of the big ones is that the likes of Apollo help preserve a traditional Reddit experience, rather than the more image-led one that Reddit's moving towards. 

Also, apps like Apollo are more customizable than the official Reddit app, often offer an ad-free experience, and harken back to the days of the Alien Blue app, which disappeared when the official Reddit app landed in 2026.

TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, Matthew Bolton, is an Apollo fan and explains: “I only use Apollo for Reddit because it cuts back the chaos. I like to browse particular subreddits that have good communities; I don’t want to be spammed with all the stuff that the algorithm has flagged as controversial in a desperate attempt to get me to engage,” he says. 

“I want to scroll through the things I like the most without the ads,” he adds. “The Reddit app wants me to think of it like a social network, but I want to use it like a combination of Flipboard and an old-school forum – and that’s exactly what I do with Apollo. The official app is like trying to read a magazine while people keep slipping flyers about their pet views or irrelevant news between the pages.”

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There’s a new Gmail verification scam; here’s how to avoid getting caught up in it
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There’s a new Gmail scam making the rounds online as bad actors are taking advantage of the service’s recently launched verification system. 

Back at the beginning of May, Google introduced blue checkmark verification in order to combat internet scams like phishing attacks. Companies and organizations can apply to the program to verify their identity, and upon approval, Gmail will display the aforementioned blue checkmark next to the brand logo. What was supposed to be a way to protect people is instead, in some instances, being used to go after them. Cybersecurity engineer Chris Plummer posted on Twitter an image of a spoofed email claiming to officially be from UPS. The scammer apparently somehow got past Google’s own safeguards.

Bug exploit

Identifying the fake email was easy enough to do. Plummer shows the header sporting an email address consisting of mostly random letters and numbers ending in a UPS URL. However, hovering over the checkmark displays a window stating the message is coming from a legitimate source.

It’s unknown how the bad actor got around the security checks. Plummer claims there’s a bug in Gmail that scammers are exploiting to trick the platform’s “authoritative stamp of approval”. From there, the bad actors hop through multiple domains before zeroing in on their target.

Initially, when he reported the problem to Google, the company reportedly hand-waved it away saying the system was working as intended. But in the days since Plummer’s discovery, the tech giant made an about-face and announced it is currently working on a fix.

How to not get scammed

Since we don’t know when the patch will roll out, it makes sense to protect yourself until then. TechRadar has a couple of guides on how to avoid online phishing scams and how to protect your inbox. We strongly recommend reading both to get a full understanding, but here are some pieces of advice to get you started.

First, double-check the header. If you see a bunch of random letters, numbers, and symbols in the email address, that’s your first clue that something is fishy.

Secondly, double-check the spelling in the header. Some scammers will replace certain characters with a lookalike to trick people. For example, the letter “O” will be replaced with the number “0” or the capital “I” with a lowercase “l” (that's an “L”). Gmail’s default font can make this tough to discern. 

Be wary of any emails urging you to share your financial information, whether updating your account details or a refund offer you didn’t ask for. 

Of course, don’t click on any links or attachments you don’t recognize.

Also, be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best identity theft protection apps for June 2023 to better safeguard your personal details. 

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WhatsApp beta on Android introduces screen-sharing – here’s how to enable it
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Like Apple’s FaceTime, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams before it, WhatsApp may soon allow its users to share their screen with others during a video call.

This info comes from WABetaInfo who discovered the upcoming feature after digging through the files of the latest Android beta. According to a recent report, a new icon is set to appear at the bottom of a video call in the call control view. Tapping it will “share your screen” with the other person and “everything displayed… will be recorded”. Of course, you can end the transmission at any time by revoking permission.

There are some requirements that must be met first before anyone can try out screen-sharing. WABetaInfo states the “feature may be unavailable on old versions of Android”, plus the recipient cannot have “an outdated version of WhatsApp.” It’s also possible screen-sharing will not work in large group calls. It’s hard to say for sure what exactly are the limitations for this update since it hasn’t even been officially released. Recall that this is only a beta so there’s still some work left to be done.

If you want to try out screen-sharing yourself, you’ll need to first join the Google Play Beta Program and then install the beta from the platform. Screen-sharing is only available to a few testers at this point, but it will be rolling out to more people “over the coming days.”

WhatsApp's screen sharing on Android

(Image credit: WABetaInfo)

iOS changes

It’s unknown if this feature will make its way to iPhones, especially since FaceTime with screen-sharing already exists (although it is possible). What is arriving to WhatsApp on iOS is Companion Mode, which will allow people to link their account on up to “four devices simultaneously” while “maintaining the same level of privacy”. Meta hasn't made a formal announcement of the new mode, but WABetaInfo does say the patch is officially available from the App Store. 

Connecting phones seems pretty simple from the looks of it. All you have to do is scan a QR Code on one iPhone with WhatsApp open on the other iOS device you want to link. “Chat history will safely be synchronized across” all connected smartphones. Similar to screen-sharing on Android, Companion Mode may not be available upon download; however, the changelog on the App Store listing states the update will release “over the coming weeks.” Be sure to keep an eye out for the patch once it reaches you.

All throughout May, Meta has been pumping out WhatsApp updates like they’re going out of style. It’s been a pretty active month for the platform. Be sure to check out TechRadar’s coverage of these other changes like message editing and the new Chat Lock. 

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Google’s AI-boosted search engine enters first public trial – here’s how to try it
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Google has opened up access to its Search Labs testing program allowing users to try out the upcoming search engine update with the most notable change being the Search Generative Experience or SGE.

To be clear, Search Labs isn’t technically open to the public as you’ll have to first join a waitlist. If you’ve already signed up, be sure to check your email account for an invitation from Google as they're currently rolling out. Don’t worry if you haven’t entered as there’s still room left in the waitlist on both desktop and mobile.

To join on desktop, you need to first install Google Chrome on your computer. From there, head on over to the Search Labs website, select Join Waitlist, and wait for the invitation to arrive. On mobile devices, launch the Google app. You should see a science beaker-esque icon in the top left corner of the screen. Just like before, select Join Waitlist then wait for the invite. Search Labs is available on both iOS and Android so no one’s being left out. Install the latest app update if you don't see the icon.

Limited-time only

Unless you’re a subscriber to Google One Premium, it may take a while until you get an invite. A recent report from 9To5Google states Premium subscribers are getting “priority access” to Search Labs, although “it won’t be immediate.” “Access spots are limited” at the moment, but more will open up over “the coming weeks. 

But once you get the invite, act fast. SGE and the rest of the Search Labs experiments will be available for a limited time only. It’s unknown for how long, so we asked Google for more information. This story will be updated if we hear back.

There’s been a fair amount of hype surrounding SGE ever since it was first revealed during I/O 2023. The technology essentially enhances Google Search to provide long, detailed responses to queries by taking context into consideration. It could very well completely change how people use the search engine. 

Word of advice

For the lucky few who get early access to SGE, Google recommends starting off with simple terms so you can get used to how the AI works. Once you get a feel for it, try entering more specific queries. One of the highlighted use cases of SGE is to help people with their shopping. The AI can generate a detailed list of features, reviews, price points, and even link to the product itself.

In addition to Google’s advice, we have some of our own because we’ve used multiple generative AI models from Bing to Brave Summarizer. One thing we’ve learned is generative AIs can hallucinate, meaning they come up with totally false information that bears no resemblance to reality. Don't always believe what you read. And do be mindful of what you enter as generative AIs keep the information you type in. In fact, some major tech corporations, like Samsung, have banned their employees from using ChatGPT after some sensitive information was leaked.

Google I/O 2023 revealed a lot more than just the tech giant’s AI tools. Be sure to check out TechRadar’s coverage of the event as it happened.

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You’ll soon be able to create all kinds of documents in Google Docs – here’s how
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Creating all kinds of documents with Google Docs could now prove a lot easier thanks to a new update.

The word processor tool from Google Workspace is now leveraging a boost in its smart chips technology to be able to create different types of specialized documents such as invoices or contracts.

Far from having to manually input and tweak your document to get it into exactly the right format, Google Docs users will now be able to set pre-defined items and placeholders, with the software automatically creating the type of file needed.

Google Docs smart chips

“Today, we’re introducing variable chips, a new feature that makes document creation for things like invoices, contracts, or broader communications much easier,” a Google Workspace update blog post announcing the news said.

Users will be able to pre-define and insert placeholders such as a client name, contract number, or an address, and then update it throughout their entire document simply by editing the value in one place. 

Google Docs variable smart chips

(Image credit: Google Workspace)

The update is available now, with no admin control necessary for business users. It will be available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits only, meaning users with personal Google accounts won't get access. Rollout has started now, with users set to see the new feature over the next few weeks.

Opinion – a possible Google Docs game-changer?

As someone who creates all kinds of different types of documents within Google Docs, getting the right format and layout is often one of the trickest things to nail down – whether its a news article, a formal letter, or a contract, everything needs to be formatted in the correct way.

This launch shows Google Docs paying heed to such concerns in a way that Microsoft Word and other competitors are still yet to fully do, and could be a game-changer for workers around the world. Spelling an end to fiddly manual editing processes, the use of smart chips for intelligent editing and formatting could be incredibly valuable, and I'm all for it.

Coming on the heels of other new features such as collapsible headings, which make longer documents much easier to consume, and tweaks to tables of contents, Google Docs is finally becoming a true tool for all players.

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Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are finally available on your iPad – here’s how to get them
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Just two weeks after the initial announcement, Apple's Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro editing software have made landfall on select iPad models.

Both apps function similarly to their desktop counterparts with some customizations so they can take full advantage of the hardware. As stated in our previous coverage, Final Cut Pro will feature a new jog wheel to make interacting with the touch screen easy to do. This includes smoothly navigating the Magnetic Timeline and moving clips for a video. Support for the Apple Pencil is present enabling Live Drawing so you can draw and write on top of content. Additionally, Final Cut Pro on iPad allows for multicamera editing so you can easily combine multiple angles into one timeline.

As for Logic Pro, the music editing software comes with Multi-Touch so you can use your hands to zoom in on tracks or scroll through them. Custom audio boards can be built thanks to Plug-in Tiles. All you have to do is drag audio control plug-ins together like a jigsaw puzzle. Apple Pencil support is here as well for “precision edits”. 

There are even a couple of new features not present on the desktop version. First, you have Beat Breaker, which lets “creators “reshape and shuffle sounds with a swipe of their finger or a pinch. There’s also Sample Alchemy for manipulating music samples with, as you can probably guess, just your finger.

Availability

The apps can do more than what we just described, but we think you get the picture. It doesn’t look like there will be any hiccups in the transition from desktop to tablet. So, how can you buy them?

Both Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are available through the App Store for $ 4.99 USD (£4.99 and $ 7.99 AUD) a month or $ 49 USD (£49 and $ 59 AUD) a year “with a one-month free trial.” As you can see, the iPad versions of these apps are much, much cheaper than on Mac. Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro will run you $ 299.99 (£299.99/$ 499.99 AUD) and $ 199.99 (£174.99/$ 299.99 AUD) respectively.

Do note there are some limitations. The software only works with select iPad models. To use Final Cut Pro, you need to own either a 12.9-inch iPad Pro (5th or 6th gen), 11-inch iPad Pro (3rd or 4th gen), or iPad Air (5th gen) with iPadOS 16.4 or later installed. For Logic Pro, the app will work on “any iPad with the A12 Bionic chip or later” like the 7th Gen iPad from 2019. The device must also be running iPadOS 16.4.

It’s worth mentioning there have been rumors of these two applications coming to Apple’s rumored VR headset. This information comes from notable industry insider Mark Gurman who claims “there’s a very real possibility” they’ll roll out to the headset at some point. Apparently, the xrOS platform can run iPad apps.

It’s unknown if that’ll actually happen, but our questions may soon be answered. The company’s big WWDC 2023 event will be held in less than two weeks on June 5. We do expect to see the long-awaited reveal of Apple's VR device among other high-profile gadgets.

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Windows 11’s next big update could arrive today – here’s what to expect
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Windows 11 might get its next big ‘Moment’ update later today, if the rumor mill is right.

That’s the prediction of one of the higher-profile Windows leakers out there on Twitter, PhantomOfEarth.

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Of course, this is just educated guesswork – the leaker is “pretty sure” this is the case, mind, as today is the fourth Tuesday of the month, so typically, it’d be the expected day for kicking off the rollout of Moment 3. And as we’ve already observed the upgrade is thought to be imminent, hitting the final stages of testing almost two weeks back, in fact. Microsoft is also hosting its Build 2023 event and keynote today.

As PhantomOfEarth further notes in the above tweet, if you want to get the new features bundled in Moment 3 as quickly as possible, then there’s a way to do that. Go to Windows Update settings (type it in the taskbar search box to head straight there) and switch on ‘Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available’.

If you do so, though, bear in mind that early adopters may get to dig into new features before everyone else, but they could also hit hidden bugs that weren’t stamped out in testing. These things have most certainly happened before with Windows, and will doubtless happen again – it’s a sprawling and vast piece of software, after all.

If you’re wondering what new features are available courtesy of Windows 11’s Moment 3, let’s have a quick recap.

What’s coming in Moment 3 for Windows 11?

The truth is that Moment 3 isn’t as exciting as the previous Moment released for Windows 11. Not that it doesn’t bring in a lot of stuff, it’s just that there’s no big standout ‘must-have-that’ feature.

What is good to see is a whole lot of elbow grease being put into making Windows 11 more accessible across various fronts. That includes a fair bit of work on Voice Access – controlling Windows 11 via speech (and dictating text) – with a bunch of new English dialects getting support, and the help system being revamped to be much more, erm, helpful. Live captions are being implemented in many more languages, too.

There’s also Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC), a feature that can be used to save power – by intelligently dimming the display – and laptop battery life. Or you can use it when your notebook is plugged in, too – that way, you’re still saving a bit of money on your electricity bill (which these days could be helpful, as it all adds up).

There’s also a revamp for the settings of Windows 11’s virtual keyboard, allowing you to better control when it pops up, and a new USB4 devices Settings page. Another of the more significant changes, at least for PCs with presence sensors – that can turn your machine on or off automatically, when you leave or return to the device – is the introduction of privacy settings for that feature. That’s definitely a beneficial addition to police which apps get access to that functionality.

Another improvement is that search will work better within the Settings app, Microsoft informs us, and there’s an absolute pile of minor tweaks. Want seconds shown in the system tray (taskbar) clock? That option is happening. Want to know if your VPN is connected at-a-glance right from the Windows 11 desktop? A new status icon in the system tray is inbound to tell you just that.

Overall, then, this is one of the more disappointing Moments in terms of major changes for Windows 11, as mentioned, but to be fair to Microsoft, there’s a lot of work under the hood here. You should be able to see the results for yourself later today, at least if the rumor mill is on the money.

This year could be a relatively quiet one for Windows 11, especially as early indications point to the annual update (23H2) also being a more low-key affair.

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WhatsApp now lets you edit your messaging nightmares – here’s how to do it
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WhatsApp is saving you from those awkward spelling mistakes and missing commas by giving you the power to edit messages – within limits. 

We first saw inklings of this update in a late March beta. The feature didn’t work at the time, but there were some clues hinting at how it would function. From the looks of things, not much has changed since then.

To fix a text, Meta states you need to first long-press a sent message and then select Edit from the menu that appears. Users have 15 minutes to make their corrections. Texts cannot be changed past the time limit, forcing you to live with the typos you made (or you can just send a new text).

Messages that have been altered will display ‘Edited’ right next to them, making it clear to others in a chat that some corrections have been made. It all works similarly to iMessage editing on iOS 16. WhatsApp, however, will not save any sort of edit history, meaning others won’t be able to see previous versions of texts.

Editable messages are currently “rolling out to users globally and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks” so keep an eye out for the new patch. We asked Meta if there are any other restrictions. For example, on iOS 16 users can only make up to five edits to a text within a 15-minute window. This story will be updated at a later time.

WhatsApp Message Editing

WhatsApp Message Editing (Image credit: WhatsApp)

A very busy month

WhatsApp has had quite a busy month as the platform has seen multiple updates in a short amount of time. Just last week, the app gained a Chat Lock tool, ensuring your private conversation stays private which can be useful if you’re using a shared phone. Before that, we saw the introduction of single-vote polls “to stop people from skewing [results] with multiple votes.”

As for the near future, it appears Meta will soon launch a “password reminder feature for end-to-end encrypted backups”, according to a recent post from WABetaInfo. The app will ask you to verify the password so you’ll always have access to the backup in the event you forget your login credentials. This particular update will be rolling out to both Android and iOS “over the coming weeks.”

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ChatGPT Plus will get a huge update this week – here’s why it’s a big deal
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ChatGPT Plus subscribers will soon be getting early access to experimental new features for the popular chatbot. Web integration and plugins are rolling out in beta next week, which could prove to be two interesting updates to the chatbot.

If you're subscribed to ChatGPT Plus, a new beta panel will appear in your settings next week. Once the panel has popped up, you’ll be able to try the two new features – though of course, most users are likely to gravitate to the AI’s more important and likely more interesting web browsing capabilities. 

ChatGPT Screenshot

(Image credit: ChatGPT)

According to OpenAI’s official blog post on the beta features, the new internet-connected version of ChatGPT will know when and how to browse the internet to answer questions about recent events or topics. This means you could ask ChatGPT about something going on in the news, about whether or not you should take a scarf on your afternoon dog walk, or dig up trivia for more recent films and TV shows.

Why does this matter? 

This new beta puts ChatGPT in a similar sphere to Microsoft’s Bing Chat, without explicitly turning it into a search engine. The big takeaway is that ChatGPT will basically be able to identify when it lacks information to answer a query and needs to search the internet for a relevant source.

This should make asking for citations a lot easier and – hopefully – a lot more accurate. Alternatively, the chatbot will simply be able to direct you to a webpage that might help. This means that ChatGPT (or at least, the beta version available to Plus subscribers) will no longer be reliant on the limited dataset it was trained on.

However, the issue that comes with chatbots having the ability to scour the web at will is that they often don’t have an appropriate frame of reference or the physical real-world mobility to reliably pick out misinformation. ChatGPT could cross-reference what it finds and try to ‘verify’ the authority of the source, but it can’t truly confirm the information is true in the real world.

Say you want to know about something that is currently ongoing in the real world, like the real-time weather in your area. An AI can't properly go outside to verify these things are true. With ChatGPT now able to search the web of its own accord,  I hope that it will effectively prioritize reputable sites and sources – and avoid digging into incorrect information.

The good news is that OpenAI is taking a relatively conservative approach here. It’s a smart idea to have this feature tested on a smaller scale, with only plus subscribers having initial access and the beta feature being opt-in only.

It’s a safer way to start rolling out features like this without forcing it on the entire user base – a lesson that Microsoft could possibly learn from OpenAI, rather than shoving Bing AI into everything on Windows. With this change, we could see a smarter ChatGPT with more real-life applications, rather than just a text-content-vomiting machine. 

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Everyone can now use the ChatGPT-powered Bing – here’s how
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Since the new ChatGPT-powered Bing landed last month Microsoft has been steadily working through the waitlist for its new AI-powered search engine – but it seems most of us need to wait no more.

As spotted by Windows Central, it's now possible to skip the tiresome waitlist and start firing questions at the AI search engine, even though Microsoft hasn't officially removed the waitlist. We've also tried this with success, but it seems to require a particular trick.

A Microsoft account that we previously added to the Bing waitlist is still waiting for access. But when we set up a new Microsoft account on the new Bing homepage, we got straight in – so that appears to be the most reliable method for anyone who's still waiting to dabble with a search engine that runs on OpenAI's new GPT-4 model.

Multiple sites, including The Verge , have also reported successfully accessing Bing after previously being on the waitlist. There have also been examples of outliers where simply signing in on the Bing homepage hasn't worked, which suggests this isn't yet an official Microsoft roll-out.

We've asked Microsoft for comment and will update this story when we hear back. It's possible that the tech giant will reveal more during this afternoon's AI-themed 'Reinventing Productivity' event, which kicks off at 8am PT / 3pm GMT  (which works out as 2am AEDT).

But until then, it's worth heading to the new Bing and signing in to see if you now have access. If not, opening a new account in the meantime should give you access to Microsoft's ChatGPT-powered search engine, which has already attracted 100 million daily users.

Fellowship of the Bing

A laptop screen on a blue background showing the new Microsoft Bing and Google Bard AI chatbots

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft's announcement that its new Bing search engine is running on OpenAI's new GPT-4 language model has again raised its profile – particularly as GPT-4 tech is currently only available on ChatGPT to paying subscribers.

Still, there are big differences between Bing and ChatGPT. Microsoft's search engine is generally better at answering queries about recent events since, unlike ChatGPT, it's plugged into the internet. But Microsoft has also added guard-rails around the new Bing, which means ChatGPT could be better for creative brainstorming.

Both AI assistants have their place, and Bing continues to steal the limelight from Google Bard, which is Google's rival chatbot. Bard, which Google describes as an “experimental conversational AI service”, still hasn't been launched to the public, and has been mired in confusion, errors and delays.

Google did preview the AI tools coming to Gmail, Google Docs and more, and we're expecting to hear more about its chatbot plans in the run-up to Google I/O 2023. Until then, Microsoft Bing will continue to stretch its lead in AI search engine assistant space – particularly if the waitlist is officially removed soon.

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