Microsoft unveils AI for its office suite
STORY: Satya Nadella: “We believe this next generation of AI will unlock a new wave of productivity growth”
Microsoft on Thursday unveiled its latest plans to put artificial intelligence into the hands of more users…by announcing upgrades to its widely used office software…
coming as rival Google announced a flurry of its own upgrades earlier this week - touting AI features for Gmail and a "magic wand" to draft prose in its own word processor.
MICROSOFT CVP OF MODERN WORK AND BUSINESS APPLICATIONS, JARED SPATARO:
"Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot, your copilot for work. Copilot combines the power of large language models with your data in the Microsoft graph and the Microsoft 365 apps, to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet."
Microsoft previewed a new AI "copilot" for Microsoft 365, its product suite that includes Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and Outlook emails.
The company, outpacing peers through investments in ChatGPT's creator OpenAI, also showcased a new "business chat" experience that can pull data and perform tasks across Microsoft's applications simply on a user's written command.
MICROSOFT CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS APPS AND PLATFORMS CHARLES LAMANNA:
"Here, you're in a meeting with your team. You can ask Copilot to summarize what's happened so far. You can see who said what, what points are made. Copilot is really capturing the spirit of the discussion. As the meeting progresses, you can check on where people stand. You can even ask Copilot what questions are unresolved.
The frenzy to invest in and build new products began with the launch last year of ChatGPT, the chatbot sensation that showed the public the potential of so-called large language models.
Such technology learns from past data how to create content anew.
This type of AI is evolving rapidly.
Just this week, OpenAI began the release of a more powerful version known as GPT-4, which is included in the chatbot in Microsoft's updated Bing search engine.
This week's drumbeat of news including new funding for AI startup Adept reflects how companies large and small are locked in a fierce competition to deploy software that could QUICKLY reshape how people work.
