Microsoft’s Ignite 2023 occasion got here with loads of updates, and AI product reveals and expansions had been entrance and heart as the corporate laid out its up to date imaginative and prescient for IT professionals.
As our personal Devin Coldewey wrote in October, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has made it clear that the corporate is all-in on AI, and Ignite was proof of that. From rebranding its ChatGPT competitor Bing Chat to be below the Copilot umbrella, to the extremely anticipated {custom} AI chips to compete with Nvidia and methods to generate text-to-speech avatars, there have been loads of AI-centered reveals on the Wednesday occasion.
We compiled the varied bulletins from our respective Microsoft and AI specialists Frederic Lardinois and Kyle Wiggers multi function spot in case you missed it.
ChatGPT competitor Bing Chat is now Copilot
Picture Credit: Microsoft
Microsoft renamed Bing Chat, the AI-powered chatbot it launched on Bing earlier this yr, to Copilot in Bing. Bing Chat Enterprise has additionally been rebranded to Copilot.
As Kyle notes, the change is probably going as a result of the truth that Bing Chat didn’t transfer the needle a lot for Bing. Now it appears the corporate is seeking to divorce the tech from the search engine to higher compete with ChatGPT and different in style chatbots.
Copilot is now accessible in Home windows along with Copilot.Microsoft.com and Bing, delivery in vary of Microsoft’s enterprise subscription plans at no further value. Copilot shall be included in Microsoft 365 F3 beginning December 1, and shall be obtainable for $5 per 30 days for all different clients.
Customized chips with an emphasis on AI
Picture Credit: Microsoft
Microsoft is seeking to free itself from GPU dependency with two custom-designed, in-house and information center-bound AI chips: the Azure Maia 100 AI Accelerator and the Azure Cobalt 100 CPU.
Maia 100 can be utilized to coach and run AI fashions, whereas Cobalt 100 is designed to run common function workloads.
Each Maia 100 and Cobalt 100 will begin to roll out early subsequent yr to Azure information facilities, Microsoft says. It is going to first energy Microsoft AI companies like Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service.
New AI instruments Copilot Azure, Copilot for Service and Copilot Studio
Microsoft unveiled new AI instruments in Copilot, the corporate’s model of generative AI applied sciences: Copilot for Azure, Copilot for Service, Copilot Studio and Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides.
Copilot for Azure is Microsoft’s reply to the not too long ago introduced Duet AI in Google Cloud, taking the type of a chat-driven assistant for cloud clients. Azure’s Copilot is presently obtainable in preview.
Copilot for Service, a software for customer support wants, can reply commonly-asked questions from customer support brokers by drawing on an organization’s web sites, data articles, offline databases and extra.
Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides faucets generative AI to summarize info doubtlessly helpful to frontline staff and overlays them on the gear they’re sustaining. Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides will first launch in personal preview with “a restricted set of consumers and capabilities.”
Copilot Studio can be utilized to create a {custom} copilot — like a chatbot for expense administration, for instance — by describing it in pure language. Copilot Studio is now obtainable in public preview for present Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscribers.
Microsoft Groups will get an AI-powered house decorator and voice isolation
Picture Credit: Microsoft
Microsoft Groups’ new “adorn your background” characteristic means you would possibly by no means have to scrub your messy house workplace once more. The video name characteristic can have a look at your room and clear up muddle, and add crops and even decorations to your background.
Microsoft additionally introduced an AI-driven noise discount characteristic for Groups that may cut back repetitive background noise in addition to different individuals’s voices.
The voice isolation characteristic is rolling out now and shall be usually obtainable in early 2024, whereas “adorn your background” shall be obtainable early subsequent yr in Groups Premium.
Microsoft To Do, Planner and Venture turn out to be a singular product
Microsoft is making its undertaking administration instruments rather less complicated. The corporate introduced it’s consolidating its vary of planning instruments — Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Venture — into one new product for a extra “unified expertise.”
There will even be a copilot in Planner which is able to be capable of assist customers plan issues sooner and counsel new duties.
The brand new Microsoft Planner will first be obtainable in Microsoft Groups within the spring of 2024, with the online model launching later in 2024.
Generative AI copyright protections for extra clients
Microsoft introduced extra clients may be defended and compensated for any “adversarial judgements” in the event that they’re sued for copyright infringement because of outputs from utilization of Axure’s OpenAI Service.
This coverage is not going to apply to each Azure OpenAI Service buyer by default. Subscribers should first implement “technical measures” and adjust to danger mitigation documentation to be thought-about for eligibility.
Home windows AI Studio makes it simpler to run AI regionally on Home windows
Picture Credit: Microsoft
In an effort to push generative AI experiences from the cloud to Home windows gadgets, Microsoft introduced Home windows AI Studio. The toolkit brings collectively AI instruments and a catalog of generative AI fashions that builders can fine-tune, customise and deploy for native, offline use of their Home windows apps.
Home windows AI Studio will achieve extra succesful native fashions together with Meta’s text-generating Llama 2 and Stability AI’s text-to-image mannequin Steady Diffusion XL.
Azure AI Speech to create text-to-speech avatars
Microsoft introduced a software that may create what is actually a deepfake. Azure AI Speech text-to-speech avatar generates a photorealistic avatar of an individual and animates that avatar to say issues that the particular person didn’t essentially say.
Microsoft famous the various apparent methods this software might be abused, and they’re placing limits on it. For now, most Azure subscribers will solely be capable of entry prebuilt avatars at launch. Microsoft says {custom} avatars are presently a “restricted entry” functionality obtainable by registration solely and “just for sure use instances.”
Recap the total Microsoft Ignite 2023 occasion
If you wish to expertise the Ignite occasion over again or for the primary time, you possibly can watch highlights from the keynote on Microsoft’s website.