• AI KATANA
  • Posts
  • Microsoft to Start Selling AI Package to Companies in November

Microsoft to Start Selling AI Package to Companies in November

Also: The AI Chatbot Assistants Are Here. Do We Actually Want Them?

Author

AI KATANA
September 24, 2023

Welcome!

In today's AI landscape, Microsoft announces a new AI package called Microsoft 365 Copilot, slated for a November launch after successful pilot tests with major corporations. Meanwhile, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton calls for AI to improve the decision-making process in Formula 1 stewarding, following a series of controversial rulings. As AI's influence grows, so do ethical concerns, highlighted by a recent New York Times op-ed that delves into the risks posed by AI technologies, including the unauthorized cloning of voice actors' work. On the product front, tech giants like Google and Microsoft are pushing AI chatbots as the future of user interaction, but questions arise over their effectiveness and practicality. Finally, venture capital continues to pour into AI and deep tech, as evidenced by the $140 million fund raised by Global Frontier Technology Ventures. These stories underscore the transformative—but often contentious—role AI is playing across different sectors.

Sliced:

  • 💵 Microsoft to Start Selling AI Package to Companies in November

  • 🏎️ Hamilton suggests using AI to improve stewards' decisions after Verstappen error

  • 😡 How AI Can Ruin the Internet

  • 🤖 The AI Chatbot Assistants Are Here. Do We Actually Want Them?

Microsoft is set to launch Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI-powered add-on to its existing enterprise software bundle, in November. After successful trials with major corporate clients such as Visa, General Motors, and KPMG, the Copilot software will be available to enterprise customers starting Nov. 1. Aimed at enhancing productivity, the software assists in tasks like crafting PowerPoint presentations, managing Outlook inboxes, and generating Word documents. The Copilot suite will also feature new tools like Designer for creating visuals and a chat service acting as a virtual assistant. Priced at $30 per user per month, this comes in addition to the cost of the existing Office 365 suite.

In the aftermath of a controversial decision by the FIA stewards at the Singapore Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has suggested that artificial intelligence (AI) could improve the consistency and accuracy of race rulings. The stewards had reprimanded Max Verstappen for impeding Yuki Tsunoda and for stopping at the pit exit, decisions later admitted to be incorrect. Normally, impeding results in a three-place grid penalty. Hamilton's call for AI intervention aims to mitigate human error in decision-making, emphasizing the need for fair and consistent outcomes. His teammate George Russell and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz also expressed confusion and concern over the stewards' inconsistencies, hoping that lessons would be learned moving forward.

The advent of AI technologies is raising ethical and legal concerns as creators find their work appropriated and monetized by tech companies. British voice actor Greg Marston's experience of discovering an AI-generated clone of his voice exemplifies the issue of eroding trust in digital public spaces. Content creators are fighting back, deleting their work from platforms and going on strike to ensure their contributions aren't exploited by AI. Meanwhile, dubious AI-generated content is proliferating, causing a "tragedy of the commons" scenario where the public good is compromised for individual profit. Legal frameworks are lagging, although the European Union is considering some restrictions on AI. Calls are growing for tech companies to adopt ethical standards that focus on consent, control, and compensation for content creators, as the AI industry stands poised to monetize the exploitation of creative work, often without adequate recompense or transparency.

Tech giants Google and Microsoft are heavily investing in AI and chatbot technologies to automate and streamline tasks across their software ecosystems. While these technologies promise to make our lives easier, early implementations like Google's Bard Extensions and Microsoft's CoPilot have shown limitations in accuracy and utility. These chatbots often provide incomplete or incorrect information, sometimes making tasks more cumbersome rather than simpler. The article questions whether consumers actually desire these conversational interfaces over existing methods of interaction, such as buttons, menus, and search boxes. Although chatbots have shown potential in specific use-cases, there's skepticism about whether they represent a genuine advancement in human-computer interaction or are merely a byproduct of the tech industry's enthusiasm for AI, serving as quirky but ineffective solutions in search of problems.

🛠️ AI tools updates

A new AI image generator called 'Illusion Diffusion' has been launched on the AI community platform Hugging Face, allowing users to create their own optical illusions easily. Originating from an r/StableDiffusion user named Ugleh, the generator was developed by Angry Penguin and popularized by Alvaro Cintas. Users can select from pre-existing illusion templates and input custom prompts to produce intricate, mesmerizing optical art inspired by various styles, including the work of Dutch artist Escher. The tool offers multiple customizable settings and has gained a following for its ability to create captivating, medieval-inspired landscapes and village scenes.

💵 Venture Capital updates

Global Frontier Technology Ventures (GFT), a venture capital firm founded by former executives from Nvidia and Samsung, has raised $140 million for its first fund aimed at investing in early-stage AI and other "deep tech" startups. Based in Palo Alto, the firm plans to primarily focus on opportunities in the U.S. and Israel, with a notable portion of its investors hailing from Asia. The firm has already made investments in sectors such as autonomous trucking, data engineering automation, and health tech.

🫡 Meme of the day

⭐️ Generative AI image of the day