Bing tells users when AI Mode answers come from its own knowledge

Microsoft’s Bing AI Mode now explains when it answers a question without showing external references. Rather than leaving the References panel empty, Bing displays a message explaining that the response came from its own knowledge.

We recently reported how Bing displays source links in a References panel on the right side of its AI Mode interface. During further testing, we spotted another detail: when Bing has no references to show, the panel displays the message “AI Mode answered this from its own knowledge.”

We first spotted it after asking Bing to rewrite a classic fairy tale with a modern twist. It generated several creative responses without providing any source links. The References panel displayed “No references to show” alongside the explanation that the answer came from its own knowledge.

We saw the same message again after submitting a simple “test” prompt. AI Mode generated another response, but the References panel displayed the same explanation.

This gives users some context when an AI Mode response doesn’t include source links. Instead of wondering why the References panel is empty, they can see that Bing attributes the answer to its own knowledge.