The problem was discovered by outside researchers at the security firm Wiz. It was created by a mistake in the way that Microsoft configured applications on Azure, its cloud-computing platform, and could be used to gain access to emails and other documents of people who used Bing.

Vole fixed the problem on 2 February, according to Ami Luttwak, Wiz's chief technology officer. However, five days later Satya Nadella introduced the new generative AI capabilities to Bing, bringing a renewed interest in Microsoft's 14-year-old search engine.

Usage of Bing has jumped, rising to more than 100 million daily active users in the month since the upgrade.