In short. Copilot Search in Bing combines summaries and linked sources, and Microsoft now describes its evolution into AI Overview and AI Mode.

Definition: Copilot Search in Bing is Microsoft's name for a web search experience that combines summarized answers with linked sources and follow-up topics. Microsoft's current guide describes its evolution into AI Overview and AI Mode.

Key facts

Microsoft's launch announcement dates the introduction to 4 April 2025 and describes summaries, direct answers and query-dependent information layouts.
As of 17 October 2026, Microsoft's Bing AI guide describes AI Overview as a summary within search results and AI Mode as a conversational search experience. Both use Copilot technology.
Microsoft's search-results explainer identifies Bingbot as the crawler that finds new and updated content for Bing's search index.

How does the original experience present answers and sources?

The announcement describes citations inside responses, with entire sentences or passages linked to sources. Readers can open a list of links used to produce the answer. Cited sources and relevant web results appear at the top and bottom of the result.

Related topics extend the search. Selecting a suggested topic produces another summary and further suggestions, while the previous result remains accessible on the same results page. This connects an initial answer to additional searches around its subject.

Microsoft supplies this entry address in the announcement:

https://aka.ms/CopilotSearchinBing

What do AI Overview and AI Mode mean now?

Microsoft's current guide explicitly answers the question of what happened to Copilot Search. It describes AI Overview and AI Mode as the resulting Bing experiences, with names intended to explain their different functions.

AI Overview supplies a concise summary alongside search results, with links for checking sources. AI Mode supports a continuing conversation: follow-up questions refine a topic and allow exploration of different angles. The tutorial shows an AI Mode entry point that carries over the query already entered in Bing's search box.

The guide also includes image and video results within the tutorial. It explains how a video can open at full screen before the reader returns to AI Mode. Microsoft states that feature availability and functionality vary by device, market and browser version.

How can readers inspect an answer's sources?

The Bing AI tutorial separates viewing references from expanding their full list. Its Show all control opens that list, while source details provide a route from the answer to the underlying web material.

For a website owner examining a linked page, the reference list identifies the source attached to that particular answer. Microsoft's guide encourages reviewing sources, especially for important decisions or complex topics. That makes opening the linked material part of checking the answer's claims and context.

FAQ

Where can I find the references behind an answer?

Microsoft's tutorial shows Show all for opening the full reference list in AI Mode. You can follow source links to examine the underlying information.

Can I ask another question about the same topic?

The same guide describes follow-up questions in AI Mode. You can refine a question or explore another angle within the conversation.

Sources

Check how a page reads to answer engines. Open the GEO score analyzer