Bing users on desktop can now talk to the chatbot and it will rely audibly. Microsoft has rolled out voice support for the search engine’s chatbot on the Edge browser for desktop. It is based on generative artificial intelligence (GAI).

“We know many of you love using voice input for chat on mobile,” Microsoft wrote in a post. “It’s now also available on desktop by clicking on the microphone icon in the Bing Chat box.”

The feature, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology, initially became available on Bing’s AI chatbot for its mobile apps.

English, Japanese, French, German and Mandarin are supported, but Microsoft said more languages are on the way. The chatbot also supports text-to-speech answers and can respond to your questions with its own voice.

Despite all the buzz around chatbots, there is a long way to go in educating people using the internet. On the unofficial half-birthday of ChatGPT, CivicScience data shows 46% of U.S. adults still have not heard of the technology.

Less than 10% have used it, although that is almost twice the number seen in January. Of those with an opinion of ChatGPT, 74% of people believe it will be pose a strong threat to internet-related jobs. Some 57% of younger adults feel the same way.

The move comes as Microsoft retires Cortana, the company’s virtual assistant.

Earlier this year, Microsoft quietly announced the end of support for Cortana in Windows 10 and Windows 11, pushing users toward the new Bing powered by GAI, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Windows Copilot and other products.

Bing users on desktop can now talk to the chatbot and it will reply audibly. Microsoft has rolled out voice support for the search engine’s chatbot on the Edge browser for desktop. It’s based on generative AI.