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Tag: Microsoft

  • Microsoft Adding ChatGPT Email Creation Into Viva Sales

    Microsoft Adding ChatGPT Email Creation Into Viva Sales

    Microsoft is taking another crack at Salesforce, integrating ChatGPT email creation into Viva Sales to make it easier for salespeople to communicate with clients.

    Microsoft unveiled Viva Sales in mid-2022, touting it as “a new seller experience application.” The app is designed to work with various CRMs and integrate their data with Microsoft’s suite of apps.

    The company is now integrating ChatGPT into Viva Sales so salespeople can use the AI to write emails for them. According to Bloomberg, the software “will cull data from customer records and Office email software. That information will then be used to generate emails containing personalized text, pricing details and promotions.”

    Microsoft is investing heavily in ChatGPT and its creator, OpenAI. The company is planning to unveil a version of Bing that utilizes a new and improved version, and has invested billions in OpenAI.

    The company clearly sees potential for ChatGPT to help it in its efforts to take on Salesforce’s dominance in the CRM market.

  • Microsoft Doesn’t Want Employees Sharing Sensitive Data With ChatGPT

    Microsoft Doesn’t Want Employees Sharing Sensitive Data With ChatGPT

    Microsoft may be going all-in on OpenAI tech and ChatGPT, but that doesn’t mean the company wants sensitive information shared with it.

    Microsoft is rolling out ChatGPT across multiple products and has no objection to its own employees using the tech. However, the company wants to make sure no sensitive information is shared with the AI.

    “Please don’t send sensitive data to an OpenAI endpoint, as they may use it for training future models,” a senior engineer wrote in an internal post that was reviewed by Business Insider.

    The memo demonstrates one of the biggest challenges moving forward with large language model AIs, namely controlling what information it has access to, and how that information will be used if it is shared.

    ChatGPT is a conversational AI that learns from its interactions and what people type into it. As such, it’s not surprising that Microsoft wants to make sure no sensitive information is shared with it, since the AI could then end up using that information in its responses to users.

    “Human beings sign NDAs and consequently have incentives to be careful in how they share information. But large language models such as ChatGPT do not have the ability to reason about such issues, at least by default,” Vincent Conitzer, Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor and director of its AI lab, told Insider.

    Microsoft’s caution is one other companies would do well to imitate.

  • Microsoft Will Soon Incorporate a New, Improved ChatGPT in Bing

    Microsoft Will Soon Incorporate a New, Improved ChatGPT in Bing

    Microsoft is moving full speed ahead in its plans to incorporate ChatGPT in Bing, with a new and improved version rolling out in the coming weeks.

    ChatGPT has quickly become the poster child for AI development and has permeated multiple industries. Microsoft is eager to integrate the technology in its Bing search engine in the hopes that conversational AI will help it catch Google.

    According to a new report by Semafor, Microsoft’s plans will come to fruition in the coming weeks, with Bing set to incorporate a new and improved version of ChatGPT based on GTP-4.

    The outlet says that speed is one of the biggest benefits of the move to GPT-4:

    The most interesting improvement in the latest version described by sources is GPT-4’s speed. Right now, it can take a while — sometimes minutes in my experience — for ChatGPT to answer.

    Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI, with its most recent investment coming just last week. At the time of the investment, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella touted the importance of OpenAI’s research.

    “We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” said Nadella. “In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”

    The biggest beneficiary of OpenAI’s development, however, may just be Microsoft itself. Despite being a very capable search engine, Bing has never been able to make much headway against Google’s dominance. Google clearly views the possibility of a ChatGPT-enabled Bing as a threat, with the company calling in founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help it devise an AI strategy.

    If Semafor’s report is correct, we may only have a few weeks to see if ChatGPT upends the search market as much as some believe it will.

  • It’s Not Just You: Windows Updates Are Failing

    It’s Not Just You: Windows Updates Are Failing

    Microsoft Windows users are experiencing major problems updating their systems, with updates failing without explanation.

    According to Windows Latest, the problem has been going on for months, but seems to be impacting the most recent security and essential updates. It is impacting some optional updates as well.

    KB5022303, the mandatory security update and essential for Windows 11 users, is failing with mysterious error messages, with 0x800f0831 being the most common error code. This bug is also hitting KB5022360, which is the latest optional update for Windows 11.

    While failed updates are bad enough, cryptic error messages that do not provide any assistance make it that much more difficult to troubleshoot.

    While Microsoft is aware of the situation, there has been no word yet on a possible fix.

  • E3 2023 May Be Missing Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony

    E3 2023 May Be Missing Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony

    Despite being the first E3 in four years, E3 2023 may be missing the biggest console makers: Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony.

    IGN reports that none of the three biggest console makers plan to attend E3, citing unnamed sources. No reasons were given for the three companies skipping the event, and none of the three replied to IGN’s request for comment.

    The news is even more interesting since Xbox CEO Phil Spencer seemed to voice support for E3 and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) just a week ago.

    “E3 is just, to me, one of the seminal moments of gaming. I love the history of going down to LA, thousands of people there, getting to see great new things…getting to see people in the industry, the fan events that we’ve had. I definitely want that to continue,” Spencer told IGN.

    “Xbox is on the board of the ESA, and I think a successful and healthy ESA is critical to what we’re trying to go do. So we place our showcase, like we always have done, at a time where hopefully it’s convenient for press and even consumers that are going to the E3 event, and that’s what we’re trying to do now. We will continue to work with ESA in terms of their plans. As I said, we’re on the board, and we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help make the E3 successful.”

    It’s likely Xbox plans on timing any announcements it may have to coincide with E3, giving it a chance to cash in on the hype without having a presence at the event. It’s unclear if the other two console makers have similar plans.

  • Microsoft Services Recovering From An Hours-Long Outage

    Microsoft Services Recovering From An Hours-Long Outage

    Microsoft services appear to be working after an hours-long outage that impacted Microsoft 365, Outlook, and Teams.

    According to Downdetector.com, users started experiencing problems in the early morning hours of Wednesday, January 25. The issue appeared to impact a broad range of Microsoft services and lasted for several hours.

    The company acknowledged the issue on Twitter, saying it appeared to be a networking issue.

    The company’s status page says services have been restored, as does their Twitter account.

  • Microsoft Loses Faith in VR, Eliminates Entire Development Teams

    Microsoft Loses Faith in VR, Eliminates Entire Development Teams

    Microsoft appears to have lost all confidence in virtual and mixed reality (MR), eliminating entire teams behind its development efforts.

    Microsoft announced widespread layoffs last week, impacting some 10,000 employees, or roughly 5% of its workforce. In the days since the announcement, more information has come to light about which departments have been the hardest hit, and it appears VR and MR are among them.

    According to Windows Central, the Redmond company eliminated the entire development team behind its AltSpaceVR project, with the virtual reality workspace slated to shutdown in March.

    The company’s Mixed Reality Tool Kit (MRTK) development team was also eliminated in its entirety. The toolkit was designed for Unity VR and worked with Meta’s headsets. MRTK was an important part of Microsoft’s HoloLens project, which itself is already in trouble after Congress refused to fund the US Army’s request to purchase more of the augmented reality (AR) goggles.

    As Windows Central points out, taken together, the scope of the layoffs seem to indicate Microsoft has lost faith in VR and the metaverse. If that is the case, it would deal a major blow to Meta’s efforts to make the metaverse a reality.

  • Microsoft Officially Extends Its Partnership With OpenAI

    Microsoft Officially Extends Its Partnership With OpenAI

    Microsoft has announced “a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment” in OpenAI, extending its existing partnership with ChatGPT creator.

    Microsoft has been an investor in OpenAI for several years and has exclusive access to some of the AI firm’s technology. Rumors surfaced two weeks ago that the Redmond-based company was looking to invest another $10 billion in OpenAI.

    In a press release today, the two companies confirmed an extension of their ongoing partnership, although they did not disclose the exact amount.

    “We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”

    “The past three years of our partnership have been great,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. “Microsoft shares our values and we are excited to continue our independent research and work toward creating advanced AI that benefits everyone.”

    The partnership will involve three primary areas:

    • Microsoft will continue to invest heavily in OpenAI’s research and development of artificial intelligence.
    • Microsoft will continue to deploy OpenAI’s AI tech across its platforms and products.
    • OpenAI will exclusively use Microsoft’s Azure as its cloud provider.

    Microsoft is believed to be working to integrate ChatGPT with a version of its Bing search engine in an effort to more effectively compete with Google. This extended partnership will no doubt open up additional opportunities for the company at a time when Google is trying to catch up.

  • Microsoft Execs Enjoyed Private Sting Concert the Night Before Layoffs

    Microsoft Execs Enjoyed Private Sting Concert the Night Before Layoffs

    Microsoft is (justifiably) taking flak for hosting a private Sting concert for top execs the night before announcing layoffs for thousands of employees.

    Microsoft announced layoffs Wednesday, impacting some 10,000 employees. That number puts Microsoft only behind Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet for the number of tech workers laid off at one time over the last year. At the time the layoffs were announced, the company blamed “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.”

    Evidently, those “macroeconomic conditions” and ‘changing priorities’ did not include rethinking a private Sting concert in Davos, one that Microsoft hosted and saw some of the company’s top execs in attendance, according to The Wall Street Journal. Needless to say, the revelation is not going over well with those inside and outside the company.

    Is the concert to blame for the layoffs? No. Would canceling or rescheduling the concert have saved jobs? Of course not. Are the optics unconscionably bad? Absolutely!

    The fact that Microsoft’s execs did not see an issue with holding and enjoying the concert just hours before upending the lives of 10,000 of their employees speaks to a level of obtuseness — perhaps even callousness — that is hard to fathom.

    While many companies have had to resort to layoffs amid the current economic situation, Microsoft just set the bar for how not to do it.

  • Google Turns to Larry Page & Sergey Brin to Help With AI Strategy

    Google Turns to Larry Page & Sergey Brin to Help With AI Strategy

    Google has turned to its founders to help it devise an AI strategy as the company faces its biggest challenge yet to its search dominance.

    OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the AI world by storm, with Microsoft working to integrate it with a version of Bing. Google has had to answer some uncomfortable questions about why a startup beat it to market with one of the best conversational AIs to date.

    Evidently, the concerns go more than skin deep, with the company calling in Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help it plot its course forward and come up with a response, according to The New York Times.

    The Times sources say the two founders reviewed the company’s AI strategy, approved ideas for how to integrate AI chat into Google’s search engine, and provided ideas to company leaders on the best way to proceed with AI implementation.

    The fact that Google turned to its founders for help with AI underscores how seriously company execs are viewing the technology in terms of the threat it poses to Google’s core search business.

    “This is a moment of significant vulnerability for Google,” D. Sivakumar, a former Google research director, told the Times. “ChatGPT has put a stake in the ground, saying, ‘Here’s what a compelling new search experience could look like.’”

    Despite the threat, Mr. Sivakumar believes Google could deploy its significant AI tools to counter the threat.

    In the meantime, Microsoft and other rivals have a rare opportunity to use ChatGPT, and similar AI tech, to make headway against Google’s dominance.

  • Microsoft Confirms Layoffs, 10,000 Jobs Cut

    Microsoft Confirms Layoffs, 10,000 Jobs Cut

    Microsoft has confirmed its plans to engage in layoffs, with plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or nearly 5% of its total workforce.

    Rumors surfaced Tuesday that Microsoft was preparing to lay off employees, with reports placing the number at 11,000, or 5% of the company’s workforce. Some analysts, however, expected the total number to be higher.

    According to AP News, Microsoft has confirmed its plans, although the total number is coming in slightly slower than initially reported, at 10,000. In a regulatory filing, Microsoft blamed “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.”

    Interestingly, as AP points out, the layoffs are still less than the number of jobs Microsoft added during the pandemic, a testament to the popularity of its products and cloud services.

    CEO Satya Nadella also made clear the company has not frozen all hiring, but will continue to hire for specific roles.

    “While we are eliminating roles in some areas, we will continue to hire in key strategic areas,” Nadella said.

  • Satya Nadella: ‘ChatGPT Coming Soon to Azure OpenAI Service’

    Satya Nadella: ‘ChatGPT Coming Soon to Azure OpenAI Service’

    Microsoft is working to bring ChatGPT to its Azure OpenAI service, according to a tweet by CEO Satya Nadella.

    OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the AI world by storm, quickly establishing itself as one of the most advanced chat AIs to date. As one of the main investors in OpenAI, Microsoft has access to the company’s technology, and has already incorporated it as part of its Azure OpenAI Service. The company is preparing to take it a step further by rolling out ChatGPT as well.

    Eric Boyd, Corporate Vice President, AI Platform, provided more details in a Microsoft blog post:

    With Azure OpenAI Service now generally available, more businesses can apply for access to the most advanced AI models in the world—including GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL•E 2—backed by the trusted enterprise-grade capabilities and AI-optimized infrastructure of Microsoft Azure, to create cutting-edge applications. Customers will also be able to access ChatGPT—a fine-tuned version of GPT-3.5 that has been trained and runs inference on Azure AI infrastructure—through Azure OpenAI Service soon.

    Microsoft is clearly going all-in on OpenAI and ChatGPT. The company is preparing to invest $10 billion in the AI firm and is looking for ways to integrate ChatGPT into its Bing search engine in an effort to challenge Google’s dominance.

    Integrating ChatGPT into Azure OpenAI Service is a natural evolution of the company’s plans and investment.

  • Microsoft Prepares to Cut 11,000 Jobs

    Microsoft Prepares to Cut 11,000 Jobs

    Microsoft is on the verge of a major round of layoffs, with plans to cut 5% of its workforce, or 11,000 jobs.

    The tech industry has been beset with mass layoffs as a result of the economic downturn, topping some 125,000 in 2022. Amazon, Meta, Salesforce, Oracle, and HP are just a few of the companies impacted. Microsoft is on the verge of joining that list, according to Sky News, with the company poised to cut 5% of its workforce. With some 200,000 employees, 5% equals roughly 11,000 staff.

    Sky News was unable to confirm the exact number and cites one Wall Street analyst as believing the final number will likely be higher. The outlet also quotes Guggenheim analysts regarding Microsoft’s upcoming earnings.

    “While most investors see Microsoft as a large stable business that can weather any storm, it does have vulnerabilities, some of which could be exacerbated by this macro[economic] slowdown,” they wrote.

    Whatever the final tally turns out to be, the layoffs are sure to raise doubt about Microsoft’s prospects, doubt that is clearly already beginning to grow.

  • EU Poised to Give Microsoft Antitrust Warning Over Activision Deal

    EU Poised to Give Microsoft Antitrust Warning Over Activision Deal

    Microsoft’s troubles with its Activision Blizzard deal are about to get worse, with the EU poised to give the company an antitrust warning.

    According to Reuters, the European Commission is preparing to serve Microsoft an antitrust warning over concerns about its effort to purchase Activision. Microsoft announced plans to purchase the game studio in January 2022, a deal worth $68.7 billion.

    Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have expressed concerns that Microsoft could use Activision to further its position in the PC gaming market, as well as the broader PC market. The UK has launched a challenge to the deal and the FTC has sued to block it.

    Microsoft has evidently been open to remedies in an effort to win EU approval, but Reuters reports that the EU is not open to discussing remedies until after it delivers its charge sheet in the coming weeks.

    In the meantime, Microsoft remains hopeful it can satisfy concerns and move forward with the deal.

    “We’re continuing to work with the European Commission to address any marketplace concerns,” the company says. “Our goal is to bring more games to more people, and this deal will further that goal.”

  • Congress Deals Blow to Microsoft’s HoloLens Combat Goggles

    Congress Deals Blow to Microsoft’s HoloLens Combat Goggles

    Congress has dealt a major blow to Microsoft’s HoloLens combat goggles, refusing to authorize funds to purchase more of the devices.

    Microsoft has been working with the US Army to develop combat goggles that could provide troops with valuable information in battle. The contract was one of the biggest attempts to integrate the tech in a real-world setting.

    Unfortunately for Microsoft, Congress has declined the Army’s request for $400 million to buy an additional 6,900 googles, according to Bloomberg. Lawmakers did approve a transfer of $40 million of the requested funds toward developing a new, improved model.

    At the heart of the issue — both for the denial of procurement funds and the funding for developing a better version — are evaluation tests that have uncovered major issues with the current generation HoloLens. Tests revealed that the HoloLens were leading to “mission-affecting physical impairments” in 80% of soldiers after less than three hours of use. Given that the goggles are designed to be worn in the heat of battle, possibly for hours on end, the tests raised major concerns.

    There’s no doubt that AR will play a significant role on future battlefields, but Congress clearly doesn’t want to invest money in a version of the technology that is more of a liability than asset — at least at this stage of development.

    In the broader scheme of things, Microsoft’s challenges with the HoloLens illustrate the bigger issues companies are going to have with AR, VR, and the metaverse. Until people can use the technology in a meaningful way without experiencing negative side effects, the metaverse will remain a pipe dream.

  • Microsoft Now Offering Unlimited Vacation to Some Employees

    Microsoft Now Offering Unlimited Vacation to Some Employees

    Microsoft is giving salaried employees in the US a major perk, offering unlimited vacation under its new “Discretionary Time Off” policy.

    Companies are trying to find a new normal post-pandemic, and Microsoft’s change to its vacation policy is being pitched as an adaptation to new, flexible ways of working. The company outlined its thinking in an internal email sent by Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s chief people officer, and seen by The Verge:

    “How, when, and where we do our jobs has dramatically changed. And as we’ve transformed, modernizing our vacation policy to a more flexible model was a natural next step.”

    The new policy goes into effect January 16 and will be in addition to the paid holidays Microsoft already provides. As an added benefit, the policy will also apply to new employees, meaning they will not need to be at the company a certain amount of time in order to build up vacation days.

    Those employees that have already accumulated unused vacation days will get a one-time payout in April.

    While hourly employees are not included in the new policy, Microsoft says the reason is because of the complexity of US federal and state laws, which would make it difficult to extend the policy to include them. The same is true for employees outside the US.

  • Microsoft Moving Teams Features Behind Teams Premium Subscription

    Microsoft Moving Teams Features Behind Teams Premium Subscription

    Microsoft is making a major change to Teams, moving some features behind its Teams Premium subscription service.

    Teams is the leading corporate messaging platform, eclipsing its main rival Slack by a wide margin. Microsoft has leveraged the popularity of its Microsoft 365 office suite and largely made Teams available for free.

    According to a note to its partners, however, some of Teams features — including some if its more popular ones — will now require a Teams Premium subscription. The following features are impacted:

    • Live caption translation
    • Intelligent recording markers to identify when individual joined or left
    • Organization meeting branding and organization Together mode
    • Virtual appointment text reminders
    • Virtual appointment dashboard for scheduling features, queues, and analytics

    Microsoft does offer a 30-day trial of Teams Premium to help organizations decide if the features are worth upgrading.

    Partners can start sharing the news with their customers to start enrolling tenants in the preview as a trial through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center by searching for Teams Premium in the catalog. Once enrolled and activated, tenant admins receive a limited number of 30-day trial licenses that they can assign to users in their organization.

  • Microsoft’s Next Surface Duo 3 Will Feature a Foldable Screen

    Microsoft’s Next Surface Duo 3 Will Feature a Foldable Screen

    Microsoft is making a major change to its Surface Duo line, ditching the dual-screen design in favor of a foldable screen.

    Microsoft first unveiled the Surface Duo line in late 2019, surprising users with both its operating system and its design. The phone ran Android rather than some tablet-centric version of Windows and featured a dual-screen design. The dual screens were Microsoft’s attempt to avoid some of the pitfalls of early foldable designs, such as creases and breakage.

    Fast-forward three years, and Microsoft is ready to throw in the towel on dual-screen designs and embrace foldable screens, according to Windows Central. What’s more, the decision to make the switch appears to come after a dual-screen Surface Duo 3 design had already been approved.

    There are likely multiple factors that led to the decision, not the least of which is the mixed reviews the Surface Duo 2 received. In addition, foldable screen tech has come a long way in the last three years and has largely resolved the limitations of early generations.

    If the report is true and Microsoft embraces foldable designs, it could easily help the company make major inroads into the mobile phone market. For many users, having an Android phone designed from the ground up to run Microsoft’s suite of applications could be the holy grail of mobile phones.

  • Microsoft’s January 2023 Security Update Fixes 98 Vulnerabilities

    Microsoft’s January 2023 Security Update Fixes 98 Vulnerabilities

    Microsoft has released the January 2023 Security Update, fixing 98 vulnerabilities, including one zero-day exploit.

    Patch Tuesday is Microsoft’s term for when it releases updates and security fixes for Windows. The first Patch Tuesday of 2023 fixes a slew of issues, including 11 critical and 87 important issues. One of them, CVE-2023-21674, is currently being exploited.

    Microsoft offers the following description of the zero-day exploit:

    This vulnerability could lead to a browser sandbox escape.

    Once the vulnerability is exploited, an attacker can achieve the following:

    An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges.

    All users should update immediately.

  • Microsoft Looks to Invest $10 Billion in OpenAI and ChatGPT

    Microsoft Looks to Invest $10 Billion in OpenAI and ChatGPT

    OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm and Microsoft is not immune, with the Redmond giant set to invest $10 billion in the firm and its tech.

    ChatGPT is one of the most realistic AI-driven chat platforms available, providing answers with almost human-like responses. Researchers, students, writers, and more have tasked the AI with various written tasks, many of which are decently good.

    Microsoft has been a long-time investor in OpenAI, leveraging its investment to gain exclusive access to some of its AI tech. News broke late last year that Microsoft was looking to increase its investment, but the latest report says it plans to invest as much as $10 billion in the AI company.

    According to Semafor, this latest round of funding, which includes various venture capital firms, would see OpenAI valued at $29 billion. Once the deal closes, Microsoft will receive 75% of the company’s profits until its investment is paid off. After that, profits will be split according to ownership, with Microsoft accounting for 49%, other owners accounting for another 49%, and OpenAI’s parent accounting for the remaining 2%,

    Microsoft clearly sees ChatGPT as a way for it to better take on Google’s dominance in the search market. The company is looking to integrate ChatGPT into a version of Bing, but some analysts are not convinced the AI tool can help Microsoft make up ground.

    Brent Thill of Jefferies told CNBC:

    “There is incredible amount of promise, but today, in terms of real time, it’s not there.”

  • Microsoft Acquires Fungible to Improve Its Data Centers

    Microsoft Acquires Fungible to Improve Its Data Centers

    Microsoft has announced its acquisition of Fungible, a company that produces data processing units (DPUs) used in data centers.

    Microsoft Azure is the second-largest cloud computing platform behind AWS. Microsoft clearly wants to improve its data center offerings, and sees Fungible as a way to achieve that.

    “Fungible’s technologies help enable high-performance, scalable, disaggregated, scaled-out datacenter infrastructure with reliability and security,” writes Girish Bablani, Corporate Vice President, Azure Core.

    “The Fungible team will join Microsoft’s datacenter infrastructure engineering teams and will focus on delivering multiple DPU solutions, network innovation and hardware systems advancements.”

    Microsoft sees Fungible as a long-term investment that will help it differentiate its offerings.

    “Today’s announcement further signals Microsoft’s commitment to long-term differentiated investments in our datacenter infrastructure, which enhances our broad range of technologies and offerings including offloading, improving latency, increasing datacenter server density, optimizing energy efficiency and reducing costs,” Bablani adds.

    No financial terms of the acquisition were revealed.