Microsoft has announced that it is bringing its Copilot technology, which is based on generative artificial intelligence technologies such as ChatGPT, to its suite of business software, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The new AI features will allow users to generate compelling visuals, create business proposals, and even write first drafts for users to edit and iterate on.
The Copilot technology is built on a large language model (LLM), which is capable of understanding and responding to text. This type of AI software has seen significant advancements in recent years, making it possible for LLMs to create images based on written prompts and carry on extended conversations with people via chat interfaces.
The new Copilot features are being pitched by Microsoft as being more powerful than just being “OpenAI’s ChatGPT embedded into Microsoft 365.” However, Microsoft has also acknowledged that current LLM technology can produce inaccurate responses, and that sometimes Copilot will be “usefully wrong.”
Microsoft is currently testing the Copilot technology with a small group of customers to get feedback and improve their models as they scale. The company did not disclose the names of the customers testing the software, but did reveal that they are testing it with 20 customers, including eight in the Fortune 500.
While much of the excitement over generative AI is due to the success of ChatGPT, there are concerns about the accuracy and biases of these AI models. Microsoft has stated that it has privacy checks and mitigations in place in case the software gets things wrong or has biases or is misused.
In conclusion, Microsoft’s Copilot technology is a significant development in the evolution of how we interact with computing, and it has the potential to change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth. However, it is important to be aware of the limitations and potential biases of these AI models, and to take steps to address them.
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