Microsoft announced quietly Earlier this week, it plans to close a long -term tool that supplies search engine startups and other software developers with a raw feed from Bing’s search results. Bing search APIs or application programming interfaces were vital to many niche Google alternatives, but they fell more recently, as Microsoft increased the rates for service and restricted their use.
The off, which is scheduled to begin on August 11, was still surprised by several developers who spoke with Wired. Customers find out on Monday by Microsoft email and a publication on their website. They were aimed at using “Base with Bing’s search as part of Azure Ai Agents”, a Microsoft service that allows Chatbots such as Chatgpt to increase the answers generated by AI with “real-time public web data”. Some developers consider AI -centered alternative as an insufficient replacement.
Microsoft spokesman Donny Turnbaugh says that the company is deactivating Bing’s search APIs, as it pivots the support of the new offer, which “better complies with market demand for AI solutions.” He added that the company has a “support plan” and affected customers can contact questions without providing further details.
Brian Brown, a business engine business director, who stopped using Bing’s search APIs in 2023 after developing his own technology, says Microsoft “sends a clear signal” to other search companies that are hardening the loose ends in the middle of the growing competition.
Bing’s biggest customers will keep their access after August 11, while smaller developers who were less profitable for Microsoft to support themselves before, according to a person who was known by the situation anonymous to protect industry relationships. But change can still be the concern between the great expenses on the long-term perspective of based on Microsoft and causing them to accelerate their internal efforts to develop alternatives.
One of the oldest customers that is not affected at the moment is the search engine Duckduckgo, the company’s spokesman, Kamyl Bazbaz, confirmed Wired. “They are retiring the self -service version,” says Bazbaz. Brown says Brave’s understanding is that companies that have had private and long -term offers with Microsoft will keep API access.
Microsoft refused to comment on whether the reduction expenditure was a motivation for the stoppage and if some customers would be exempt. On Tuesday, the company fired about 6,000 employees, or about 3 percent of its work force, in a movement that described how to reduce redundant management structures.
The loss of Bing API adds another layer of complexity to the already uncertain future of search engines, which have been the most visible door on the website. The emergence of Chatgpt and other AI Chatbots that can help users find information more efficiently, has promoted new market competition for the first time in years. Antimonopoly investigations launched by North -American regulators are also beginning to give rise to measures that can curb Google’s search dominance and pay more attention to competitors. But despite the buzz, Google has hardly lost any market share so far.
