Microsoft claims to improve its Copilot AI

The war for artificial intelligence (AI) continues to pit the tech giants against each other. This week, Microsoft announced various new features intended to improve its Copilot assistant deeply integrated into its products, during its annual Ignite 2024 conference.

According to the Redmond giant, nearly 70% of Fortune 500 companies now use Microsoft 365 Copilot, reflecting a growing trend of adoption of generative AI in the professional world. Microsoft highlights concrete examples, such as the Eaton company which reportedly reduced the time needed to document its standard operating procedures by 83% thanks to Copilot.

Increased productivity?

Microsoft is introducing “Copilot Actions,” currently in private preview, to automate everyday tasks using simple inputs, like generating meeting summaries or compiling weekly reports. New AI agents are also announced, including an “Interpreter” for real-time translation during meetings, and an “Employee Self-Service Agent” to answer frequently asked questions about HR and IT policies.

In the SharePoint collaborative platform, natural language AI agents are now integrated to facilitate the search for information within sites, files and folders. Microsoft is also promising an agent that can create real-time meeting notes in Teams and automate project management in Planner, according to this press release.

Towards a more customizable AI

To enable businesses to develop their own AI solutions, Microsoft is launching Azure AI Foundry, offering a software development kit (SDK) and portal for building, customizing and managing AI applications and agents. This initiative aims to give companies more control over their AI tools, while simplifying the development process, according to the same text.

At the same time, Microsoft is strengthening its commitments to trusted AI with new tools for assessing the risk and security of AI-generated images. These announcements demonstrate Microsoft’s desire to remain at the forefront of AI innovation, while seeking to address growing concerns about the security and ethics of these technologies, according to Redmond’s communication.

XS