Microsoft is currently testing the GPT AI language, developed by technology brand OpenAI, for possible use in its suite of Office products, including Word, Outlook and PowerPoint.
OpenAI’s intuitive technology products, including ChatGPT and Dall-E 2, have become internet sensations for their text and image generation capabilities. Many have speculated about how ChatGPT can be used practically and morally. However, Microsoft is trying to make more functional use of the company’s AI models. According to The Information, the company has already implemented a version of the OpenAI GPT text generator model as an update to its autocomplete feature.
Microsoft also tested GPT AI model capabilities in PowerPoint and Outlook. This includes features that allow people to find Outlook search results in an email inbox using AI-driven language-like commands instead of keywords. Outlook and Word also get AI models that use suggested replies to emails or recommended document changes to sharpen writing skills. There’s currently no word on whether this usage will eventually be incorporated into consumer-facing versions of Microsoft Office, or if the brand is just toying with the potential of the GPT model.
However, this hands-on use of GPT technology comes after Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and “acquired an exclusive license for the underlying technology behind GPT-3 in 2020,” the publication added.
In addition to its Office suite, Microsoft could look to implement the GPT AI model in its Bing search engine to compete with Google. According to The Verge, this could be the product most likely to be released, with availability speculated for March.
However, OpenAI’s technology, while notable, has a number of pitfalls, including some related to information accuracy and privacy. The brand’s freemium ChatGPT AI chatbot is notorious for supplementing the information it doesn’t know with false data, which would be a challenge, especially if the model were being developed for a professional use case.
In terms of privacy, according to The Information, Microsoft has been working to develop its own custom privacy protection models based on GPT-3 as well as GPT-4, which has not yet been released. The company claims it has seen initial positive results in “training large language models with private data,” but has not confirmed whether the model is viable enough for a commercial or even a business-level product.
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