In February, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, declared that “The [AI] race starts today.” That declaration accompanied Microsoft’s unveiling of an AI-powered Bing Search, which followed the company’s revelation of a $10 billion investment in OpenAI. This sum was added to earlier rounds of funding, which started with an initial $1 billion in 2019. Since then, all IT companies have included some kind of AI in their products—or at the very least, their development roadmaps—either to take advantage of genuine opportunities or out of a simple fear of becoming outdated.
This frothiness makes to think of previous inflection points when the board was under pressure from investors, who also put pressure on the C-Suite and the entire organization. With the advent of the Web, e-commerce, mobile, social, AI, and now generative AI (GAI) based on foundation models, it has always been this way.
Microsoft has led the pack of digital behemoths in terms of AI innovation this year and has highlighted how AI has the power to completely change the way business is conducted. However, since the launch of ChatGPT and other AI-powered chatbots, many businesses, including Samsung, JPMorgan Chase, and Verizon, have prohibited employees from using them because of the risk of critical data leaks. Even Google, which has used Anthropic’s “Claude” AI assistant in some of its products, has banned employees from interacting with the chatbot with company information.
Microsoft launched Bing conversation Enterprise, an AI-powered conversation platform for business that fills a market vacuum for GAI with commercial data protection, during its annual Inspire conference this week.
The AI race has evolved beyond a simple race for speed. It represents what could be the biggest technology revolution in history and is about to alter how work is done. In this research, we’ll examine Microsoft’s developments in generative AI and how they might significantly affect workers and productivity.
The ChatGPT phenomena among consumers
In November 2022, ChatGPT debuted on the market and soon rose to prominence as the fastest-growing consumer app ever. But retrieving more recent responses from the chatbot was a dead end because the large language model (LLM) underpinning ChatGPT was only up to date through 2021. Microsoft provided a remedy for this by utilizing ChatGPT, fusing it with recent information from the Web, and referring to it as Bing Chat. Consumers, not businesses, were the emphasis of the solution at the time.
Bing Chat powered by ChatGPT was originally introduced by Microsoft in February, and the market reacted with great enthusiasm. Many IT professionals, security decision-makers, and others expressed excitement about the potential benefits that generative AI could have for their organizations, according to Microsoft. However, they were equally concerned about how widely used GAI solutions in consumer settings would use private information in business contexts. While work automation and the resulting increase in efficiency are encouraging for businesses, it is impossible to overlook the risk of revealing sensitive information, the potential for producing malicious code, and the possibility of creating false or damaging content.
Bing Chat, but make it for work
Utilizing AI, businesses want to use their enterprise data. The problem is incorporating such data into a solid AI model without unintentionally endangering the company’s operations. The new Enterprise edition of Bing Chat integrates GAI chatbot capability with web data from Bing search, just like the consumer version does. The introduction of confidential enterprise data from the company using the product and commercial-grade data protection are the main differences.
When all of this is considered, Bing Chat Enterprise is able to offer thorough and pertinent responses based on recent data. The commercial data protection makes sure that private business information stays safe within the company. A citation is included with each answer, making it even better for users to verify both internal and external sources. This promotes trust and validates the responses. Enterprise users must understand that even while their firm data is protected, chatbot responses could nonetheless contain factual mistakes.
Users should create accurate and well-structured instructions and double-check citations to reduce the possibility of errors or “hallucinations.” The quality of the response is frequently influenced by the prompt that is given to the chatbot. Microsoft could offer “prompt engineering” advice, just like Adobe did with Adobe Firefly.
Users ought to be able to request SWOT analyses, help writing code, product sheets, and internal documents with confidence if the system has commercial-grade security. These are a few instances, some of which Microsoft demonstrated, but the productivity advantages that enterprise AI will be able to bring about have not yet been fully explored. Tools like Bing Chat Enterprise will have a big impact on working habits and productivity as models are improved and employees get more accustomed to using prompts to provide desired results.
The Microsoft Edge sidebar and other Bing Chat-supported platforms, including Bing.com Chat, will support Bing Chat Enterprise, which is presently in preview. It will soon be accessible through Windows Copilot as well. Customers who have purchased Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, or Business Premium are entitled to it at no additional cost. In the future, it will be accessible as a standalone service for $5 per user each month.
Additionally, Microsoft introduced Visual Search in Bing Chat, enabling users to conduct image searches. Users can upload photographs and perform web searches for pertinent information using Visual Search in Bing Chat, which uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. Bing is able to understand an image’s context, decipher its meaning, and answer questions about it.
Microsoft 365 Copilot gets a price tag
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and other well-known Microsoft products now have AI due to the 365 Copilot subscription service. Microsoft will charge $30 per user per month for 365 Copilot when it becomes broadly accessible, the company stated this week. This year, Microsoft 365 Copilot was unveiled as the ultimate copilot for the workplace. It makes use of the power of LLMs, information from the Microsoft Graph, and the Microsoft 365 family of applications. Users may create insights and finish activities more quickly with the support of Copilot’s personalized guidance.
Wall Street bells were Binging with the news
Microsoft’s investors reacted well to the announcement that additional payments through recurring subscriptions of $30 a month could raise monthly rates for commercial clients by as much as 83%. Following the company’s pricing announcement on Tuesday, Microsoft’s shares rose to an all-time high. The stock rose significantly by 4%, closing the day above $359 on the NYSE. The value of Microsoft’s shares has increased by 50% from the year’s commencement.
According to Microsoft executives, pricing for the new service was decided after interacting with consumers and determining the value they were receiving. Customers appreciate the commercial value that GAI products, particularly those with corporate security, generate for these models, which are expensive to operate. Furthermore, not all seats in a corporate subscription need to be covered by the additional $30 per seat license. Companies can allocate organizational positions to this productivity tool, which should make the cost more tolerable for businesses that simply require it for specific departments or want to test it out first with a smaller group.
Wrapping up
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Bing Chat Enterprise exists. With updated copilot features designed to appeal to a wide spectrum of business customers, Microsoft established the foundation for enterprise GAI at Microsoft Build in June. These include Copilot for Power Platform, Dynamics 365 Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Throughout the continuing AI revolution, Microsoft has stayed steadfast in its commitment to enterprise-grade solutions. The potential for businesses to use AI to change how people work is tremendously promising. It is interesting to learn how practical applications will alter the nature of work once Microsoft 365 Copilot is broadly accessible.
AI will transform our workplace, freeing up time by managing repetitive activities and enabling individuals to concentrate on crucial strategic and creative projects. There is a widespread worry that certain job roles may become outdated as a result of the rising usage of AI-driven automation, thereby displacing some individuals. It is still possible that this is accurate. To design, operate, and manage AI systems, however, will probably necessitate the development of new jobs and the need for specialized skills. Additionally, as chatbots and AI assistants transform the workforce, it will be necessary to upskill and reskill workers to adapt to new technology. It is possible to include training into AI products to ensure that users get the most out of them.
As it is mentioned before that the AI race has evolved beyond a simple race for speed. However, the speed at which AI transforms the way we work is going to go down in history. Future generations can inquire about it on Bing Chat, and hopefully receive accurate responses based on thorough context.
