With the release of Bing Chat and its partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft has managed to place itself at the forefront of developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and surpass its technological rivals such as Google in the space of a few months. Therefore, most of the announcements made at the Microsoft Build 2023 developer conference relate to AI.
Unsurprisingly, many of the updates focus on the AI-powered Bing. But not only. Microsoft is extending its generative AI technology to many of its platforms and has even created a few new ones.
For your convenience, we’ve rounded up some of the major AI announcements made at the Build conference here, as well as some of the ones that were made ahead of the event.
New Bing Chat features (including integration with ChatGPT)
Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET
The biggest and most exciting news in Build 2023 is that the new Bing will support ChatGPT as the default search experience.
Therefore, ChatGPT will no longer be limited to information prior to 2021. Instead, ChatGPT will be able to access the web and get information about current events through Bing’s search engine.
Another positive result is that ChatGPT will now be able to include quotes in its answers. This feature is rolling out now to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, but will soon be available to everyone for free through the use of a Bing plugin.
Over the past two weeks, Microsoft has multiplied updates to Bing Chat. And it is therefore only natural that Build 2023 had to include some as well.
Last week, OpenAI rolled out over 70 plugins for its ChatGPT Plus subscribers. These plugins allow users to use third-party tools to extend chatbot capabilities, including internet access.
During the Build conference, Microsoft announced that it is adopting the same open standard for plugins as OpenAI, which will enable interoperability between ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
This allows developers to use one platform to create plugins that work across multiple platforms, including ChatGPT, Bing, and Copilot.
As part of this extension, new plugins will arrive on Bing Chat, in addition to OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha, already announced. Instacart, Kayak, Klarna, Redfin and Zillow are expected to join the Bing ecosystem soon.
Another major development, Bing Chat, along with recently announced third-party plugins, will be coming to Windows through the new Windows Copilot.
What’s new in Microsoft Edge
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In March, Microsoft revealed that its most popular Microsoft 365 apps were getting an AI upgrade thanks to a strong link with Microsoft Copilot.
During the Build conference, Microsoft announced that Microsoft 365 Copilot would also be natively integrated with Edge, with the aim of taking the Edge browsing experience to the next level.
By combining your data in Microsoft Graph with the power of large language models and Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft 365 Copilot will be able to help you with more tasks, like staying up to date with emails and more.
Microsoft Edge is also getting a more modern and streamlined look, including rounded corners and translucent backgrounds.
The long-awaited Microsoft Edge workspaces will move out of preview and become available to everyone in the coming months.
Windows 11 AI integrations (including a new Copilot)
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Microsoft introduced Windows Copilot at Build, a tool that puts AI into Windows 11.
With Windows Copilot, users will be able to get AI assistance from Bing Chat and first or third party plugins.
Access to Copilot will be simple and will only require the activation of a button in the taskbar.
Once enabled, the Copilot sidebar stays open in all your apps, programs, and windows to act as your personal assistant.
AI in the Microsoft Store
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The Microsoft Store on Windows is also getting an AI-powered overhaul with new features scattered throughout the store.
For starters, the store will feature an AI Hub, which will be a section showcasing a selection of the best AI experiences created by developers and Microsoft.
These experiences will include apps that boost productivity, including activities like building a resume, planning trips, and creating presentations.
Another upcoming feature is AI-generated review summaries that will take customer reviews into account and provide concise summaries, helping users make better purchasing decisions.
Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft
Microsoft announced during Build a whole new platform for developers, dubbed Microsoft Fabric.
Fabric will serve as a unified platform for analytics and will include tools for all your data needs including data engineering, integration, data warehousing, data science, real-time analytics , and more, according to Microsoft.
Developers will be able to access insights about their data more easily by harnessing the power of generative AI.
Developer Tools
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Microsoft Build is a developer conference, so it’s fitting that many of the event’s announcements are geared toward developers. There have also been new announcements made exclusively for developers.
For example, Dev Home, a tool designed to ease the workload of developers both in Windows 11 and in the Microsoft Store.
Other announcements were made including the public preview of GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps and the general availability of Azure Deployment Environments.
Source: “ZDNet.com”