All posts tagged: Microsofts

Microsoft’s Vasu Jakkal on how gen AI is redefining cybersecurity

Microsoft’s Vasu Jakkal on how gen AI is redefining cybersecurity

Published by skeptic

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More VentureBeat recently sat down (virtually) with Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity, management and privacy at Microsoft, to gain her insights into how AI, machine learning (ML), generative AI and emerging technologies are redefining cybersecurity. Jakkal leads Microsoft Security, one of Microsoft’s fastest-growing divisions which reached $20 billion in revenue early last year. She previously served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer at FireEye and as vice president of Corporate Marketing at Brocade. A key takeaway from her interview with VentureBeat is that AI is core to the DNA of Microsoft security and she and the senior management team see gen AI as an indispensible technology for reducing the barriers to a more inclusive, productive and diverse industry. For their latest fiscal year, Microsoft delivered record annual revenue of over $245 billion, up 16 percent year over year, and over $109 billion in operating income, up 24 percent. CEO Nadella: Security is …

AI that clicks for you: Microsoft’s research points to the future of GUI automation

AI that clicks for you: Microsoft’s research points to the future of GUI automation

Published by skeptic

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More A comprehensive new survey from Microsoft researchers and academic partners reveals that artificial intelligence agents powered by large language models (LLMs) are becoming increasingly capable of controlling graphical user interfaces (GUIs), potentially changing how humans interact with software. The technology essentially gives AI systems the ability to see and manipulate computer interfaces just like humans do — clicking buttons, filling out forms, and navigating between applications. Rather than requiring users to learn complex software commands, these “GUI agents” can interpret natural language requests and automatically execute the necessary actions. “These agents represent a paradigm shift, enabling users to perform intricate, multi-step tasks through simple conversational commands,” the researchers write. “Their applications span across web navigation, mobile app interactions, and desktop automation, offering a transformative user experience that revolutionizes how individuals interact with software.” Think of it as having a highly skilled executive assistant who can operate any software program on your behalf. You simply tell the …

How Microsoft’s next-gen BitNet architecture is turbocharging LLM efficiency

How Microsoft’s next-gen BitNet architecture is turbocharging LLM efficiency

Published by skeptic

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More One-bit large language models (LLMs) have emerged as a promising approach to making generative AI more accessible and affordable. By representing model weights with a very limited number of bits, 1-bit LLMs dramatically reduce the memory and computational resources required to run them. Microsoft Research has been pushing the boundaries of 1-bit LLMs with its BitNet architecture. In a new paper, the researchers introduce BitNet a4.8, a new technique that further improves the efficiency of 1-bit LLMs without sacrificing their performance. The rise of 1-bit LLMs Traditional LLMs use 16-bit floating-point numbers (FP16) to represent their parameters. This requires a lot of memory and compute resources, which limits the accessibility and deployment options for LLMs. One-bit LLMs address this challenge by drastically reducing the precision of model weights while matching the performance of full-precision models. Previous BitNet models used 1.58-bit values (-1, 0, 1) to represent model weights and 8-bit values for activations. This approach significantly …

Microsoft’s 343 Industries rebrands as Halo Studios, adopts Unreal Engine

Microsoft’s 343 Industries rebrands as Halo Studios, adopts Unreal Engine

Published by skeptic

GamesBeat Next is almost here! GB Next is the premier event for product leaders and leadership in the gaming industry. Coming up October 28th and 29th, join fellow leaders and amazing speakers like Matthew Bromberg (CEO Unity), Amy Hennig (Co-President of New Media Skydance Games), Laura Naviaux Sturr (GM Operations Amazon Games), Amir Satvat (Business Development Director Tencent), and so many others. See the full speaker list and register here. Microsoft’s 343 Industries has rebranded as Halo Studios and it has adopted Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Halo Studios made the announcement in a video today. It’s a big endorsement for Unreal Engine 5, which has been hailed for its realistic graphics and physics. And it’s the latest sign that Microsoft is still investing heavily in Halo, which has sold more than 81 million copies to date and generated an estimated $10 billion-plus in revenue. The next Halo will be built in Unreal Engine 5. The last installment of Halo was Halo: Infinite, which debuted in December 2021. It received good reviews and sold well, but …

Microsoft’s generative search engine weds something new, something old

Microsoft’s generative search engine weds something new, something old

Published by skeptic

Microsoft Microsoft has been a major player in the AI race and one of the first companies to unveil a chatbot that’s a worthy ChatGPT competitor — Copilot. Now, the company is returning its attention to the project that started it all: the Bing search engine.  On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled a new generative search experience that combines the conversational responses facilitated by generative AI with a search engine results page found in traditional search engines. Also: OpenAI launches SearchGPT – here’s what it can do and how to access it For example, in the demo below, a user asks, “What is Spaghetti Western?” Bing provides a conversational response with links to sites, and on the right, users can view the traditional search results, scrolling through them as they typically would.  I’m excited to share an early look at Bing’s new generative search experience. It combines the power of LLMs and SLMs with Bing’s search results to generate a more delightful and efficient UX layout. This is another meaningful step forward in our evolution of AI-powered …

Microsoft’s Mini AI Is Built to Run on Your Phone, and That’s a Key Difference

Microsoft’s Mini AI Is Built to Run on Your Phone, and That’s a Key Difference

Published by skeptic

Many artificial intelligence tools need an internet connection to a massive computing datacenter in order to work. But Microsoft on Tuesday announced a new AI designed for phones and PCs that doesn’t require that connection. The company says that its new AI, called Phi-3 Mini, can rival popular web-based AIs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT-3.5. Microsoft told Reuters that its new AI can compete with other AIs that are 10 times more expensive to power and run.  “Phi-3 is not slightly cheaper, it’s dramatically cheaper,” Sébastien Bubeck, Microsoft’s vice president of GenAI research, told Reuters. Microsoft’s effort to build more efficient AIs is part of a trend in the tech world to squeeze the impressive capabilities of chatbots like ChatGPT, Meta’s Llama, Google’s Gemini and many more, into smaller apps that can run on our computers and phones.  A smaller AI model running locally on a device likely won’t have the same depth of knowledge as its large language model counterparts but could work more quickly, be more personalized and better protect your privacy. Year of the AI …

Microsoft’s and Amazon’s AI partnerships draw UK watchdog scrutiny

Microsoft’s and Amazon’s AI partnerships draw UK watchdog scrutiny

Published by Sam

LONDON :Britain’s competition watchdog said on Wednesday it was seeking comments on the AI partnerships between Microsoft and Mistral AI, as well as between Amazon and Anthropic. The Competition and Markets Authority also said it wanted to hear the views of third parties on Microsoft’s hiring of former employees of Inflection AI and related arrangements. Microsoft last month appointed DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as the head of a newly created consumer AI unit and hired several employees of his Inflection AI startup. The regulator said it had not formed any conclusions on whether the deals fell within UK merger rules or raised competition concerns. Microsoft said it was confident that “common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional  investment in an AI  start-up  promote competition and are  not the same as  a merger”.  “We will provide the UK Competition and Markets Authority with the information it needs to complete its inquiries expeditiously,” a spokesperson said. Amazon said it was “unprecedented for the CMA to review a collaboration of this type”. …

Microsoft’s new VASA-1 AI model can turn photos into ‘talking faces’

Microsoft’s new VASA-1 AI model can turn photos into ‘talking faces’

Published by skeptic

Microsoft has provided a glimpse of VASA-1, its new artificial intelligence (AI) model, which can turn still images into ‘talking faces’ to great effect. The end product can be impressive or terrifying, but the lip-sync capability of this project is very realistic. At present, the model is only available as a research preview to Microsoft researchers but the demos released to the public have created a stir. It’s Microsoft’s latest move in the ongoing battle for generative AI supremacy. Earlier this week they announced a huge AI investment in UAE. While rivals Meta released their AI assistant across its platforms. The premise is that anyone can upload a photo and voice sample to create an apparent live, talking head of your own face. VASA-1 takes a single photo and a brief audio file to convert into a quite convincing talking face video. What makes it stand out, is the quality of the lip-sync, head movements and recognizable facial features. There will be genuine uses for such a program but safeguards will be required, as ever …

Microsoft’s .5B check for G42 shows growing US-China rift

Microsoft’s $1.5B check for G42 shows growing US-China rift

Published by skeptic

As the Gulf region gains growing strategic importance for the tech war between the U.S. and China, Microsoft makes a big move into one of its richest oil countries. On Monday evening, Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion strategic investment in G42, the Abu Dhabi-based company that has become a major force in the United Arab Emirates’ ambition to be a global leader in artificial intelligence. The minority stake will give Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair and president, a seat on G42’s board of directors. The deal signifies much more than a mere commercial collaboration between two AI titans. It serves as evidence of the two countries’ strategic positioning amid rising geopolitical tensions. The funding comes amid U.S. politicians’ escalating concerns over G42’s ties with China. In January, the bipartisan-select House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo calling for the inclusion of G42 on the Entity List, which would bar the Emirati company from accessing sensitive U.S. technologies. Such a move would put G42 under the same …

US Congress bans staff use of Microsoft’s AI Copilot, Axios reports

US Congress bans staff use of Microsoft’s AI Copilot, Axios reports

Published by Sam

:The U.S. House of Representatives has set a strict ban on congressional staffers’ use of Microsoft’s Copilot generative AI assistant, Axios reported on Friday. “The Microsoft Copilot application has been deemed by the Office of Cybersecurity to be a risk to users due to the threat of leaking House data to non-House approved cloud services,” the House’s Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor said, according to the Axios report. “We recognize that government users have higher security requirements for data. That’s why we announced a roadmap of Microsoft AI tools, like Copilot, that meet federal government security and compliance requirements that we intend to deliver later this year,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters. The U.S. House’s chief administrative office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Policymakers have been looking at potential risks in federal agency adoption of artificial intelligence and the adequacy of safeguards to protect individual privacy and ensure fair treatment. Last year, two Democratic and two Republican U.S. senators introduced legislation to ban the use of artificial intelligence that creates …