Windows, Office, Edge, Bing… Microsoft will put artificial intelligence in all its products! That’s according to announcements made at Build 2023, the annual developer conference where AI was everywhere.
In the spring, the developers are in bloom. After Google I/O and just before Apple’s WWDC, it was yesterday, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, the turn of the other big tech player to hold its annual developer conference, Microsoft Build (which you can review here). And, the least we can say is that the Redmond editor is not slowing down the pace on the ground he has been treading at a steady pace since the beginning of the year: artificial intelligence. It’s very simple, Microsoft wants to integrate AI wherever possible. Windows, Edge, Bing, Office… none of the American giant’s tools and services will escape this. A fairly understandable forced march when you know that its great rival Google is progressing rather quickly with its AI Bard and the use of all-round artificial intelligence in all its services, from photo editing to GPS navigation through its online office suite and of course its search engine. No question therefore for Microsoft, accompanied by its partner Open AI (ChatGPT) to stay behind. The best way is therefore to seduce the developers so that they make full use of all the tools available to them and to make AI the new daily companion.
Microsoft Build 2023: Windows will directly integrate AI with Copilot
“Windows will be the first PC platform to integrate centralized AI assistance with the introduction of Windows Copilot”, said yesterday Panos Panay, product manager for Windows and devices at Microsoft. If access to generative artificial intelligence still requires the use of a specific tool, Microsoft’s ambitions are thus clear for the next version of Windows 11. Its AI will thus take place within the system and will be able to be arrested at any time. It is symbolized by a Copilot button nestled in the taskbar, near the search field. A simple click on it reveals a pane on the side of the screen. All that remains is to ask him a question. Better, it will also be possible to entrust him with other operations. For example, you can drag a text or PDF document into its interface and ask it to summarize it, rewrite it, reformat it or explain its content. Impressive. Microsoft indicates that Copilot Windows should start pointing the end of its icon from June for the first tests.
Microsoft Build 2023: ChatGPT in Bing and vice versa
Bing uses the ChatGPT generative AI. This will also apply in the other direction. Open AI’s artificial intelligence, whose knowledge is limited to 2021, will thus use Microsoft’s search engine by default. “ChatGPT will now have a built-in world-class search engine to provide faster, more up-to-date answers with access from the web,” said Yusuf Mehdi, consumer marketing manager at Microsoft. A great way to reconnect AI to the news. The service is available to subscribers of the ChatGPT Plus paid service directly from the chat interface. It will be accessible later for all other users through a plug-in integrating Bing with ChatGPT. In addition, Microsoft will use the same open standard plug-in for Copilot as that operated by ChatGPT. These add-ons allow the AI to adapt to specific needs related to a particular field of activity, such as medicine, finance, marketing, etc.
Obviously, the Microsoft 365 suite does not escape the integration of Copilot either, as we mentioned last March (read our article). The adoption of the same plug-in format as ChatGPT therefore leaves the door wide open for developers to create specific modules that can complement Microsoft’s office tools with greater ease.
Microsoft Build 2023: Edge welcomes Copilot
The Edge home browser is already the tool that has benefited the most from Microsoft’s advances in integrating AI. It can also make the connection between the websites visited and the firm’s vast array of office tools thanks to the integration of Copilot for Microsoft 365. Accessible in a browser pane, it can help you extract essential information from ‘a Web page displayed to write an email for example, plan a meeting, etc.
Microsoft Build 2023: AI even in the Microsoft Store
Since artificial intelligence can do almost anything, why not ask it to come into action also in the Microsoft Store, Microsoft’s online application store? Well it will indeed be the case. AI will be used to generate written reviews on an app. However, the publisher has not commented on how these summaries will be created and verified. It is sometimes difficult indeed to distinguish the real opinions from the fake ones intended either to embellish the reality or, on the contrary, to skyrocket the popularity of an app for the benefit of a competitor.
Microsoft Build 2023: Fabric, a unified data platform for pros
The management, analysis and interpretation of data is the ideal playground for artificial intelligence. And Microsoft to launch Fabric, a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform designed for analytics that includes data engineering, integration, storage, data science, real-time analytics, applied observability and business intelligence. This unified platform makes it possible to take full advantage of the data and use generative AI to highlight those that are essential to a project.
Bring your data into the era of AI.
With Microsoft Fabric, you can unify experiences, reduce costs and deploy intelligence faster on a single, AI-powered platform. #MSBuild pic.twitter.com/QCbCAeWvbB
—Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 23, 2023
Microsoft Build 2023: some additional tweaks for Windows 11
If, as at Google’s Google I/O conference, artificial intelligence took up most of the Build 2023 keynote, Microsoft hasn’t forgotten to also present some new features coming to Windows. 11.
A more readable File Explorer
An essential element of Windows, File Explorer will benefit from a small touch-up that is both aesthetic and useful. Thus, the tabs switch at the top of the window to overhang the toolbar as is the case for example for Web browsers. In addition, images and videos benefit from a new, clearer and more detailed display.
More archive formats managed live
Some archive utility editors had to jump out of their chairs. Windows will soon be able to handle .tar, .rar, .7-zip, .gz and other open source formats on its own in addition to the traditional .zip.
Terminal adopts tabs
Anyone who frequently uses the Windows terminal to enter commands will be delighted to learn that it will now offer tabs. Convenient for writing many commands relating to different fields without having to multiply the windows on the screen.
RGB lighting just a click away
The settings panel will welcome a new option: Lighting intended for the management of RGB devices (keyboards, mice, etc.) directly from Windows. Whatever the brand of the device, it will be possible to synchronize its color and light intensity with the others.