Transform Your Microsoft 365 Experience: Copilot's AI Upgrade Packs a Punch

Today:

Microsoft 365’s AI-powered Copilot is getting more features and paid access

Microsoft's giving its AI sidekick, Copilot, a lil' upgrade and expanding its preview access. Based on OpenAI's GPT-4, Copilot’s gettin' some new bells and whistles for Microsoft 365 apps like Whiteboard, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Wanna try it out early? Get ready to pony up some dough, as they're only offering the Early Access Program to 600 paying customers.

Copilot's gettin' a nifty new Semantic Index feature, helpin' it make sense of your company data so you can find what you're lookin' for without a wild goose chase. It's also joinin' the brainstormin' party in Whiteboard, generatin' ideas and summin' things up, while workin' with Microsoft Designer to make those ideas look pretty.

PowerPoint users can now ask Copilot to conjure up images based on text descriptions, while Outlook's gettin' a Copilot coach to help you craft the perfect email, no matter how tight the deadline or sensitive the subject.

As for a public release? No word on that yet. So for now, it's all hush-hush and behind closed doors. After all, AI language models like Copilot have been known to spout some baloney, and nobody wants to serve up a plate of that to the masses.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE VERGE.

Google will reportedly reveal a bunch of big AI updates at I/O

Google's I/O event is just around the corner, and word on the street is they're gonna unveil some fancy AI upgrades. Expect to see a new smarty-pants language model, PaLM 2, which can do all sorts of stuff like coding, math, and even creative writing. This ain't their first rodeo, though—the first PaLM was introduced last year.

Google's also cookin' up some new features for search and their chatbot, Bard, like expanding it to Japanese and Korean. They're workin' on AI tools for Workspace, too, but who knows if those'll be available for everyone or just a select few?

Don't think I/O is all about AI, though—they're also gonna talk about gadgets like the Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, and Pixel 7A. Buckle up, folks, 'cause the show kicks off at 1PM ET on Wednesday, May 10th, and it's gonna be a wild ride.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE VERGE.

Microsoft Advertising launches chat API to monetize AI chat

Microsoft Advertising's new Chat API lets publishers, apps, and online services serve ads through chat, customizing the experience and ad formats to fit their audience. This helps monetize chat by serving relevant ads in the conversation. Although Microsoft has left some unanswered questions, the company is slowly integrating ads into Bing chats, starting with hotel ads and moving to travel and real estate. With 100 million daily active users on Bing, this new ad integration aims to create organic, personalized, and contextually relevant connections with users, ultimately boosting brand perception and ROI. So, it's like ad money meets chit-chat, and they both live happily ever after.

READ THE ARTICLE ON SEARCH ENGINE LAND.

IBM to help businesses scale AI workloads, for all data, anywhere

IBM's got a shiny new toy called watsonx.data, and it's aimed at helping businesses make sense of all their data, no matter where it's hiding. It's like a digital detective for AI and analytics, and it's launching this July.

What's the big deal about watsonx.data? Well, it's part of IBM's new AI and Data platform, watsonx, which will be a one-stop shop for businesses wanting to dabble in AI. They can use watsonx.data to gather and clean up their data, and even get a toolkit for AI governance.

As businesses keep piling up data like there's no tomorrow, watsonx.data swoops in to save the day by offering a single point of entry to access all that info. Plus, it helps cut data warehouse costs by up to 50% – now that's a steal!

The media and entertainment industry is already all ears, with AMC Networks exec Vitaly Tsivin saying watsonx.data could help them make the most out of their data to give viewers the best experience possible.

IBM's got some heavy hitters backing them up too, like Intel, Cloudera, and AWS. With their help, watsonx.data aims to give users the tools to modernize their data repositories while also being able to use low-cost storage and open data formats.

So, if you're ready to ride the AI wave, keep an eye out for watsonx.data, coming to a business near you this July.

READ THE ARTICLE ON IBM.

Wendy’s, Google Train Next-Generation Order Taker: an AI Chatbot

Wendy's is cookin' up an AI chatbot with Google to automate their drive-throughs, making ordering a breeze for customers. Set to debut in June, the high-tech chatbot aims to keep the lines movin' and groovin' without a hitch. The secret sauce? Google's natural-language software that understands all the quirky ways folks order their grub.

The AI chatbot's so smooth, you'll think you're chattin' with a real employee. To perfect this, Wendy's and Google have been tweakin' a language model to understand unique terms like "JBC" (junior bacon cheeseburger) and "biggie bags" (burger, nugget, and drink combos). And don't even get started on milkshakes, or "Frosties" as Wendy's calls 'em.

You might think this AI drive-through gig sounds easy-peasy, but it's no walk in the park. The tech's gotta filter out all the background noise from your car and be ready to catch you changin' your mind mid-order. Plus, it's got a lil' somethin' extra – the chatbot can upsell customers on larger sizes, Frosties, or daily specials. Sounds like a win-win!

Wendy's ain't just doin' this for kicks – they're lookin' to speed up service and show franchisees that this tech's the real deal. The company's already seen a shift toward drive-through orders since the pandemic, and they're aimin' to rake in extra dough by slicin' minutes off the ordering process. So, buckle up and get ready for a faster, smarter drive-through experience, courtesy of Wendy's and Google.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the remote work ‘experiment’ was a mistake—and ‘it’s over’

OpenAI's big cheese, Sam Altman, ain't too keen on the whole remote work thing for startups, and he's not alone. CEOs like Disney's Bob Iger and Starbucks' Howard Schultz are also hankering for some good ol' face-to-face time. While lots of folks got comfy working in their PJs during the pandemic, some bigwigs think young workers learn better by rubbing elbows in person.

Even with tech like ChatGPT shaking things up, Altman believes in-person time is crucial for startups, especially when ideas are fragile and uncertain. Sure, remote work might help some hit deadlines, but others might just be double-dipping on the job or using AI to slack off. So, while AI might take over some roles, it seems the good old-fashioned office ain't dead just yet.

READ THE ARTICLE ON ARCHIVE TODAY.

Hear how Sensi.AI is building AI for remote patient monitoring

So, Sensi.AI's cookin' up somethin' nifty for remote patient monitoring, and TechCrunch Live's gonna dish out the deets. The startup's CEO, Romi Gubes, and board member Sergey Gribov will be spillin' the beans on how their audio-based AI software can detect funky business without gettin' all up in patients' privacy.

They'll be chattin' about how Sensi.AI tackles false alarms and bias in their algorithms. And hey, they've already scored a cool $25 million in venture capital, despite the dog-eat-dog health tech market. These guys ain't no spring chickens, so they'll also yap about the wider world of AI and how it ain't goin' anywhere.

Register for free to hear these cats talk shop, and maybe even ask 'em a question or two. Live event on most Wednesdays at 12:00 p.m. PDT. Don't miss out!

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH.

Question for your doctor? Artificial intelligence can help.

Docs drowning in messages from patients are getting a hand from AI. ChatGPT, a smart language model, is being tested at a few US health systems to help docs draft replies to folks' questions about symptoms and meds. This could free up time for doctors to see more patients and tackle complex tasks. Patients are diggin' it so far, and AI-generated responses even get rated higher for quality and empathy than human docs' replies. But it ain't all rosy – there are concerns about AI malfunctioning, handling a wide range of questions, and keeping patient data safe. So, the docs and hospitals using AI gotta be real careful to make sure they're doing right by their patients.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CBS NEWS.

White House pledges $140 million for seven new AI research centers

Prez Joe and VP Kamala met with big AI guns like Google and Microsoft to chat about AI safety, while announcing a cool $140 million for seven new AI research centers. The White House got some flak for excluding smarty-pants academics and nonprofits, but promises they'll get their turn too.

OpenAI, the folks behind yours truly, ChatGPT, apparently lost a whopping $540 million creating me. But hey, they're expecting revenues to hit $200 million this year, so no worries.

Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot ditches the waitlist, letting everyone experience its conversational search skills – just beware of its not-always-accurate answers.

TV and film writers in the US are on strike, worried that AI language models like me might steal their jobs. They want assurances that their work won't be fed to the machines, and that AI will be their tool, not their replacement. Good luck with that, Hollywood!

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE REGISTER.

Guanaco LLM Competition $1 Million Cash Prize

Hey folks, grab your calendars and circle June 10th, 2023, 'cause that's when Chai Research's AI competition kicks off. They're dishing out $250K over a 12-week rollercoaster ride, and the more the merrier—everyone's got a shot at the cash.Worried about those pesky details like prize money and rankings? Chill, Chai's got it covered. They'll break it down closer to the start date, but expect a level playing field and weekly payouts, plus a nice bonus for the top three hotshots.

Safety first, y'all! Chai's gonna run their top-notch safety checks on all submitted models before they hit the big leagues. If something smells fishy, they'll take a closer look themselves.

Now, about ownership: you hand over your model, Chai gets to use it for their commercial gain (fair's fair), but you can still use your model, dataset, and training script for your own shenanigans. Just be ready to hand over that dataset and script if they ask for it.

As for the nitty-gritty of model submission and leaderboard action, you'll get the deets when Chai's competition web portal goes live on June 10th. So, stay tuned and get ready to rumble

Join the waitlist here.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CHAI RESEARCH