From the launching of a new unified communication platform to integrating AI technology into search engines, here are some extracts from popular news stories this week.
Microsoft Integrates ChatGPT Technology into Bing
Microsoft has revolutionised its Bing search engine and Edge browser by launching an AI-powered experience with ChatGPT features.
The tech giant has designed the platforms to deliver better search results, more complete answers, a new chat experience, and the ability to generate content.
According to Microsoft, there are 10 billion search queries every day. Still, the company believes that half of them go unanswered as people use search engines to do things that the software wasn’t originally designed to do.
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, commented: “AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the most extensive variety of all – search.
“Today, we’re launching Bing and Edge powered by AI copilot and chat to help people get more from search and the web.”
AI-Powered Search
Microsoft has revealed that the new Bing experience will be full of AI technology to help improve the search engine for users.
The official Microsoft 365 blog states it will include the following:
- OpenAI model: The new Bing is running on a new, next-generation OpenAI large language model that is more powerful than ChatGPT and customised specifically for search capabilities. Microsoft says it takes learnings and advantages from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5; however, it is fast, more accurate and more capable.
- Microsoft Prometheus model: The company has developed a proprietary way of working with the OpenAI model that allows it to leverage its power best and has called it the Prometheus model. The combination is designed to give users more relevant, timely, and targeted search results.
- AI within the search algorithm: Microsoft has added its AI model to the core Bing search ranking engine, which led to the most significant rise in relevance in two decades. The AI model allows even basic search queries to be more accurate and relevant.
- User experience: Microsoft has reimagined how users interact with search, browser and chat by pulling them into a unified experience. This is designed to unlock a new way of interacting with the web.
Microsoft says these new search experiences are possible because it has committed to building Azure into an AI supercomputer for the world.
Zoom Lays Off Over 1,000 With Up to $68M in Charges
Zoom will cut around 1,300 jobs in a restructuring plan that will deplete about 15% of its workforce.
The San Jose-based firm saw a boom in need for its video-conferencing services during the pandemic, but now demand has slowed.
The layoffs will cost the firm around $50-68 million in redundancy packages and charges.
In a Company News blog post to staff on Tuesday, Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, conceded the company made missteps and stated: “We worked tirelessly and made Zoom better for our customers and users. But we also made mistakes.
“We didn’t take as much time as we should have to thoroughly analyse our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably toward the highest priorities.”
Yuan pointed to the current global downturn and added: “The uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard — yet important — look inward to reset ourselves so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision.”
In a refreshingly honest statement, Yuan accepted he was accountable for ‘these mistakes’ and intended to show them in his actions. To that end, he announced:
“I am reducing my salary for the coming fiscal year by 98% and foregoing my FY23 corporate bonus. Members of my executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20% for the coming fiscal year while also forfeiting their FY23 corporate bonuses.”
It is estimated that Zoom has more than 300 million users attending meetings every day. The service saw significant growth in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and remains a popular meeting facility.
Google Reveals ChatGPT Rival ‘Bard’ as AI Race Hots Up
Google has announced it will release its long-awaited Generative AI chatbot, calling it ‘Bard’ due to its storytelling capabilities.
Based on previous work with LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), the chatbot has been widely seen as a response to Microsoft’s ChatGPT activity since December.
OpenAI’s creation has created a hype-cycle buzz on the internet even quicker than Spotify or Instagram. Microsoft has poured billions into resources for the startup to help pay for computing, for which AI requires a considerable amount.
While launching Bard, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, confirmed the amount needed, and said: “Today, the scale of the largest AI computations is doubling every six months, far outpacing Moore’s Law,” — referring to the observation that transistors in an integrated circuit double their number every couple of years.
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Google’s move to launch Bard has exciting and vast implications for its UC&C technology products, most of which are built on top of its Search tool and Workspace platform. The storytelling angle of Bard focuses on its ability to reproduce text at length in answer to questions, a facility that could be available in chat and message platforms.
Without diving into too much detail, Pichai explained: “Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills.”
So far, Generative AI models and answer machines can be shown to contextually rework tweets, songs, blog posts, term papers, poetry and computer code at incredible speed, calling upon internet-wide amounts of information. Some critics have pointed to AI models being limited by not being able to do more recent searches.
Zoho Enters UC Space with New Collaboration Platform
Zoho has unveiled its unified communications platform as it launches new collaboration technology to offer businesses easier communication.
- Hybrid Project Management with Zoho: The Best of Both Worlds
- Manage Marketing Projects with Zoho Projects
- Managing Projects From Anywhere with the Zoho Projects Mobile App
The company is establishing its Zoho Workplace product as a unified office platform that combines collaboration, productivity, and communications tools.
According to Zoho, the platform is now a flexible, full-featured business mail and cloud office suite built on a common data model and unified with search and AI.
Raju Vegesna, Zoho Chief Evangelist, said: “In the past year, Zoho Workplace adoption has accelerated as businesses of all sizes transition to digital-forward, hybrid work.
“With a clear focus on continued innovation, Zoho is well-positioned to thrive during this time of readjustment.
“The goal of Zoho Workplace is to enable businesses to unify their work to a point where the line between apps disappears.
“It’s heartening to see so many new businesses join the Zoho family, using Zoho Workplace as their customizable center of gravity.”
According to Zoho, its Workplace platform has grown 30 percent year-over-year and has more than 16 million users worldwide, with migrations from Google, Microsoft, and GoDaddy to the platform almost doubling in 2022.
Jabra Reveals Room Kit with Teams Rooms Integration
Jabra has unveiled its PanaCast 50 Video Bar System as part of its portfolio for small to medium-sized meeting rooms.
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- Jabra Releases Earbuds Designed for Remote Working
- Jabra and Lenovo Collaborate on Teams Rooms System
According to Jabra, the PanaCast 50 Video Bar System is an integrated solution which includes an Android-based compute unit, SOCs, speakers, microphones, and video camera, along with network and display interfaces for easy deployment.
It comes with a touch controller to manage the room experience and is designed to facilitate “next-level” hybrid meeting experiences.
Aurangzeb Khan, SVP for Intelligent Vision Systems at Jabra, commented: “We have an urgent need to improve collaboration in today’s hybrid working era.
“Our research found that meeting equity has a strong impact on an employee’s experience, well-being, and productivity levels.
“The addition of the PanaCast 50 Video Bar System as a room solution to the Jabra PanaCast portfolio – with the already-delivered BYOD and room system solutions — can vastly enhance the hybrid meeting experience.
“The Jabra PanaCast 50 solution portfolio addresses the spectrum of business needs for small-medium sized meeting rooms.
“We want to facilitate effortless discussions and encourage innovation amongst meeting attendees no matter their location.”
Jabra states that the complete portfolio delivers flexible deployment options to bring the best collaboration experience with an integrated solution on Android, a modular on Windows with Lenovo and Crestron, or a BYOD solution with PanaCast 50.
