When it comes to the disagreement over "whether AI should show up in search," Microsoft admitted in a November 11 blog post that users want to choose for themselves. It put two things on the table: first, a browser extension called Microsoft Bing AI Search Choice, now available in preview to Chrome and Edge users; once installed, a single switch lets you turn Bing AI answers on or off globally. Second, adding the "-ai" operator to the end of a search query, such as "best laptops 2026 -ai," falls back to traditional results—the catch is you have to type it by hand every time.
The hidden ticket to switching your default search engine The truly awkward part is the first route. When you install that extension, the browser automatically sets Bing as your default search engine, forcing users who only want to manage AI and don't want to change their search habits to go along with the switch. What's even stranger is that this could have been a switch in Bing's settings page—or even placed directly on the results page—but Microsoft chose to take a detour and make it a standalone extension, which makes it hard not to suspect it's trying to promote its own products along the way.
Over at Google, it's even less generous