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Microsoft Copilot: AI chatbot that will remember everything you do on PC

Microsoft Copilot: AI chatbot that will remember everything you do on PC

by | May 21, 2024 | Technology


The Microsoft Corp. logo. The company is increasing its cybersecurity staff. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

3 min read Last Updated : May 21 2024 | 7:48 AM IST


Microsoft wants laptop users to get so comfortable with its artificial intelligence chatbot that it will remember everything you’re doing on your computer and help figure out what you want to do next.


The software giant on Monday revealed an upgraded version of Copilot, its AI assistant, as it confronts heightened competition from Big Tech rivals in pitching generative AI technology that can compose documents, make images and serve as a lifelike personal assistant at work or home.


The announcements ahead of Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle centered on imbuing AI features into a product where Microsoft already has the eyes of millions of consumers: the Windows operating system for personal computers.


The new features will include Windows Recall, enabling the AI assistant to access virtually what you have seen or done on your PC in a way that feels like having photographic memory. Microsoft promises to protect users’ privacy by giving them the option to filter out what they don’t want tracked.

 


The conference follows big AI announcements last week from rival Google, as well as Microsoft’s close business partner OpenAI, which built the AI large language models on which Microsoft’s Copilot is based.


Google rolled out a retooled search engine that periodically puts AI-generated summaries over website links at the top of the results page; while also showing off a still-in-development AI assistant Astra that will be able to see and converse about things shown through a smartphone’s camera lens.


ChatGPT-maker OpenAI unveiled a new version of its chatbot last week, demonstrating an AI voice assistant with human characteristics that can banter about what someone’s wearing and even attempt to assess a person’s emotions. The voice sounded so much like Scarlett Johansson playing an AI character in the sci-fi movie Her that OpenAI dropped the voice from its collection Monday.


OpenAI also rolled out a new desktop version of ChatGPT designed for Apple’s Mac computers.


Next up is Apple’s own annual developers conference in June. Apple CEO Tim Cook signaled at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in February that it has been making big investments in generative AI.


Some of Microsoft’s announcements Monday appeared designed to blunt whatever Apple has in store. The newly AI-enhanced Windows PCs will start rolling out on June 18 on computers made by Microsoft partners Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung, as well as on Microsoft’s Surface line of devices. But they’ll be reserved for premium models starting at $999.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: May 21 2024 | 7:48 AM IST



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Partnership with Dell key in company's push to expand AI: Nvidia CEO Huang

Partnership with Dell key in company's push to expand AI: Nvidia CEO Huang

by | May 21, 2024 | Technology


3 min read Last Updated : May 21 2024 | 7:42 AM IST


By Ed Ludlow and Ian King

 


Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said its partnership with Dell Technologies Inc. will spread artificial intelligence to a wider range of customers, helping businesses and organisations create their own “AI factories.”

 


“We want to bring this generative AI capability to every company in the world,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Las Vegas, where Dell is holding a conference. “It’s not about just delivering a box — it’s about delivering an entire infrastructure. It’s an infrastructure that’s insanely complicated.”


Dell is one of the largest providers of computing infrastructure to government agencies and businesses — a market that Nvidia doesn’t directly serve. Though Nvidia’s sales have surged in the past year, it has mostly relied on a small group of customers for that growth: the data center operators known as hyperscalers. Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are its biggest customers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg — though Dell is close behind. 


Nvidia’s expansion plan hinges on getting agencies and businesses to develop their own AI capabilities, spurring demand for its products. For that, they’ll need the storage, networking and computing supplied by Dell, Huang said. That’s why it’s an essential partner, he said. 


The CEO is pushing Nvidia deeper into software tools, computer design and AI models, helping spread the company’s technology into everything from drug discovery to shipbuilding. Nvidia has succeeded because it prepared for the shift toward AI and has out-innovated all of its competitors, said Michael Dell, who also spoke on Bloomberg Television.


Nvidia’s stock, up more than 90 per cent this year, rose 2.8 per cent to $951.07 in New York trading on Monday. Dell, which also has rallied about 90 per cent this year, was down 2.3 per cent at $146.06.


Nvidia — the most valuable tech company after Microsoft and Apple Inc. — is slated to report its latest earnings on Wednesday. Analysts estimate that sales grew 243 per cent last quarter. The company’s revenue has grown so quickly that Nvidia now makes nearly as much in a quarter as it did annually just two years ago.


Dell, a top maker of personal computers, unveiled a new line of PCs on Monday that are optimized for AI tasks. Nvidia, meanwhile, is the biggest seller of so-called AI accelerators — the processors that are key to development of chatbots and other cutting-edge tools.


Nvidia currently sells graphics chips for PCs, but not the central processing units, or CPUs. Huang declined to say whether the company will ultimately produce the CPU itself, a move that would put it in direct competition with Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Qualcomm Inc.


Before Huang could discuss a potential move into that area, Michael Dell interrupted and said, “Come back next year.”

First Published: May 21 2024 | 7:42 AM IST



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Microsoft's new AI computers will revive PC-Mac rivalry: CEO Nadella

Microsoft's new AI computers will revive PC-Mac rivalry: CEO Nadella

by | May 21, 2024 | Technology


2 min read Last Updated : May 21 2024 | 7:30 AM IST


By Emily Chang and Dina Bass

 


Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is betting a new generation of computers with specialised artificial intelligence chips and faster performance will revive the long-running rivalry between Windows PCs and Apple Inc.’s Mac.

 


“Apple’s done a fantastic job,” Nadella said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday. “We now want to bring real competition back to the Windows versus Mac.”


Microsoft unveiled a new category of AI-focused PCs called Copilot+PC. Thanks in part to a chip dedicated to AI processing, the company said, the machines from Microsoft’s Surface line and other manufacturers will be more powerful and 58 per cent faster than Apple’s top-of-the-line MacBook Air M3. The new hardware will start at $1,000 and ship on June 18.


Apple is playing catch-up with Big Tech rivals in AI but is poised to lay out an ambitious strategy at its Worldwide Developers Conference next month. The company is placing high-end chips — similar to ones it designed for the Mac — in cloud-computing servers created to process the most advanced AI tasks coming to Apple devices, Bloomberg reported previously. Simpler AI-related features will be processed directly on iPhones, iPads and Macs. 


Apple will focus on features that make life easier for users as they go about their day — say, by making suggestions and offering a customised experience.


Microsoft is leveraging its relationship with leading AI startup OpenAI to forge an early lead in the burgeoning field of generative AI services. But the partnership has come under regulatory scrutiny. Officials in the US, Europe and the UK are examining Microsoft’s AI investments, as well as those of its rivals, to determine whether they impinge on competition or should be regulated more similarly to mergers.


Nadella said his company’s partnerships are increasing competition in the nascent field rather than constraining it.


“Today there is formidable amount of competition, right?” he said. “Whether it is between the big players or the small players. So I don’t think that this is about any one company acquiring or not acquiring, but it’s about competition.”

First Published: May 21 2024 | 7:30 AM IST



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Dell Technologies deepens AI push with new PCs, Nvidia-powered servers

Dell Technologies deepens AI push with new PCs, Nvidia-powered servers

by | May 20, 2024 | Technology


Spending on AI servers is expected to surpass $33 billion in 2024, according to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC). Photo: Bloomberg

2 min read Last Updated : May 20 2024 | 11:59 PM IST


Dell Technologies unveiled a range of AI-enabled PCs powered by Qualcomm processors and said a new server which supports Nvidia’s latest chips will be available from the second half of 2024.


Dell made the announcements at an event in Las Vegas on Monday, aiming to maintain momentum in the lucrative market for artificial intelligence servers and bracing for an expected recovery in the PC market this year after a post-pandemic slump in orders.

 


Its AI-capable PCs will come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series chips that feature neural processing units(NPUs) dedicated to processing complex AI tasks.

 


Two of the five new PCs can be pre-ordered starting Monday, with the rest to be made available in the coming months.

 


The launch comes on the same day Microsoft kicked off its annual Build event, which is expected to feature a new version of the company’s Surface Pro tablet and Surface Laptop, powered by Qualcomm chips based on Arm architecture.

 


AI SERVER BOOM

 


Dell on Monday also launched the latest in its line of servers compatible with Nvidia’s Blackwell chips. The new server also offers liquid cooling technology, as opposed to air cooling, which tends to consume more power.

 


Arthur Lewis, president of the company’s infrastructure solutions group, told Reuters in an interview that Dell’s Nvidia-based servers were the fastest ramping product in its history.

 


Spending on AI servers is expected to surpass $33 billion in 2024, according to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

 


With a significant amount of spending coming from relatively smaller companies that are still in the early stages of adopting new technologies, Lewis said Dell does not expect AI investments to significantly hit companies’ expenditure on traditional servers.

 


This contrasts the wider market which has seen uncertain demand for traditional servers as enterprises prioritize spending on speedy AI servers.

 


Dell is going to report quarterly earnings on May 30, with analysts expecting both AI PCs and AI servers to help demand for the company’s products.

First Published: May 20 2024 | 11:59 PM IST



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Microsoft Copilot: AI chatbot that will remember everything you do on PC

Microsoft highlights 'Copilot+' PCs ahead of developer conference

by | May 20, 2024 | Technology


Microsoft held the product event a day before the start of its annual developer conference. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

3 min read Last Updated : May 20 2024 | 11:43 PM IST


Microsoft said on Monday it would launch a new category of personal computer capable of handling more artificial-intelligence tasks without calling on cloud data centers.


At the event on its campus in Redmond, Washington, Chief Executive Satya Nadella introduced what he dubbed “Copilot+” PCs, saying that Microsoft as well as a range of partners such as Dell Technologies, Qualcomm, Intel


and Advanced Micro Devices would help build them.

 


Microsoft showed a feature called “Recall,” which will help users find files and other data that they have seen on their PC, even if it was a tab opened in a Web browser. The company also demonstrated its Copilot voice assistant acting as a real-time virtual coach to a user playing the “Minecraft” video game.

 


Yusuf Mehdi, who heads up consumer marketing for Microsoft, said the company expects that 50 million AI PCs will be purchased over the next year. At the press event, he said faster AI assistants that run directly on a PC will be “the most compelling reason to upgrade your PC in a long time.” To be called a “Copilot+” PC, the machines must meet mininum standards of processing power and performance, meaning that they will likely sell for higher prices. Microsoft’s new “Copilot+” computer marketing category that highlights AI features is reminiscent of the “Ultrabook” category of thin-form Windows laptops that Intel promoted with PC manufacturers in 2011 to compete against Apple’s MacBook Air.

 


Microsoft executives also said that GPT-4o, the latest technology from OpenAI, will “soon” be available as part of Microsoft Copilot.

 


Microsoft also introduced a new generation of its own Surface Pro tablet and Surface Laptop that feature Qualcomm chips based on Arm Holdings’ architecture. The company also introduced a technology called Prism that will help software written for Intel and AMD chips run on chips made with Arm technology.

 


After Intel’s processors dominated the personal computer market for decades, Qualcomm and other makers of lower-power Arm components have tried to compete in the Windows-PC market.

 


The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips include a so-called neural processing unit that is designed to accelerate AI-focused applications, such as Microsoft’s Copilot software.

 


Microsoft held the product event a day before the start of its annual developer conference.

 


Microsoft aims to extend its early advantage in the race to produce AI tools that consumers are willing to pay for. Its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI allowed it to jump ahead of Alphabet, as other Big Tech companies race to dominate the emerging field.

 


Last week, OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google showcased dueling AI technologies that can respond via voice in real time and be interrupted, both hallmarks of realistic voice conversations that AI voice assistants have found challenging. Google also announced it was rolling out several generative AI features to its lucrative search engine.

 


The PC industry has been under increasing pressure from Apple since the company launched its custom chips based on designs from Arm and ditched Intel’s processors. The Apple-designed processors have given Mac computers superior battery life and speedier performance than rivals’ chips that use more energy.

 


Microsoft tapped Qualcomm to lead the effort to move the Windows operating system to Arm’s chip designs in 2016. Qualcomm has exclusivity on Microsoft Windows devices that expires this year. Other chip designers such as Nvidia have efforts under way to make their own Arm-based PC chips, Reuters has previously reported.

First Published: May 20 2024 | 11:24 PM IST



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Google targets Microsoft's public cyber failures in bid to steal customers

Google targets Microsoft's public cyber failures in bid to steal customers

by | May 20, 2024 | Technology


Wen also noted that Google conducted its own security overhaul after a 2009 hack that saw Chinese-linked attackers breach the company’s servers and gain access to a database containing details of US surveillance targets. Photo: Bloomberg

3 min read Last Updated : May 20 2024 | 11:03 PM IST


By Dina Bass


Google is betting Microsoft Corp.’s very public cybersecurity failures — along with deep discounts — will persuade corporate and government customers to use the search giant’s productivity software rather than Office.

 


Government agencies that switch 500 or more users to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus for three years will get one year free and be eligible for  a “significant discount” for the rest of the contract, said Andy Wen, the senior director of product management for Workspace. The Alphabet Inc. division is offering 18 months free to corporate customers that sign a three-year contract, a hefty discount after that and incident response services from Google’s Mandiant security business. All customers will receive free consulting services to help them make the switch.


Google also released a white paper Monday highlighting its rival’s security lapses, and is considering launching similarly-themed social-media and advertising campaigns.


“The repeated security challenges with Microsoft call for a better alternative for enterprises and public-sector organizations alike,” Google wrote in the white paper. “We believe Google Workspace presents a safer alternative, with a proven track record of engineering excellence, deep investment in cutting edge defenses, and a transparent culture where providing security for customers is treated as a profound responsibility.”


Last month, the US Cyber Safety Review Board issued a scathing report documenting Microsoft’s inability to stop China-linked hackers from breaking into the email accounts of US officials last year. The report called on Microsoft to institute urgent reforms, which the company has pledged to do as part of its biggest security overhaul in more than two decades. 


Google has struggled to persuade customers to ditch Office but says Microsoft’s cybersecurity travails have made customers more open to switching. At a recent Google conference, according to Wen, corporate customers said their boards and executives had given them a deadline to stop using Microsoft because they could “no longer sustain the risk.”


Wen also noted that Google conducted its own security overhaul after a 2009 hack that saw Chinese-linked attackers breach the company’s servers and  gain access to a database containing details of US surveillance targets. 


The timing could be advantageous. People are increasingly familiar with Google’s applications after using them at home and school, while some corporations are unhappy with Office price increases and additional fees to use new artificial intelligence features.


There also is some appetite to reduce government agencies’ reliance on one vendor — especially one with security issues — according to Jeanette Manfra, a former Department of Homeland Security official who now runs Google’s global risk and compliance operation.


Still, Google will have to overcome cultural resistance, she said, in part because many federal chief information officers are in their roles for only a few years and typically shy away from major new projects.


“It’s a lot easier to just stick with your same path,” she said.

First Published: May 20 2024 | 10:55 PM IST



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