Microsoft applies the AI behind ChatGPT to Excel, Outlook

Microsoft continued its AI revolution on Thursday, announcing that it will apply the powers behind ChatGPT to its iconic Excel, Word and Outlook programs.

The Redmond, Washington giant has been a fast adopter of language-based AI and has shown less caution than its rivals, despite early problems such as chatbots giving distracting answers or grossly inaccurate information.

Microsoft’s latest chatbot, called Copilot, brings features similar to ChatGPT to work in offices, bringing up meeting minutes, calendar entries or PowerPoint slides almost instantly.

The idea behind the new release is that generative artificial intelligence, a term for ChatGPT-style features, will act as an assistant to users of Microsoft’s popular workplace software and not unilaterally take over office tasks.

“You could say we’ve been using AI on autopilot, and with this next generation of AI, we’re moving from autopilot to copilot,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said at a virtual launch event.

Microsoft is pouring billions of dollars into OpenAI, the company building the technology behind ChatGPT, which released its latest version, GPT-4, on Tuesday.

This technology, which according to OpenAI can be influenced by images and text, is already the basis of Microsoft’s Bing search engine chatbot, which is gaining more users with artificial intelligence.

Other tech giants are more cautious about generative AI, fearing the confusion that will come when the technology takes off.

Google’s cloud computing division said this week that it will offer testers ways to “infuse generative artificial intelligence” into apps, or run them on the Internet titan’s own platform.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month that the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is creating a product group to come up with ways to “turbocharge” its AI work.

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