Mustafa Soliman, co-founder and CEO of Inflection AI UK Ltd, speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 18, 2024.
Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft Microsoft will unveil brand new artificial intelligence tools for use on PCs and in the cloud at its annual Build conference, according to a list of sessions published Wednesday.
In January, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts that 2024 is the year “AI will become part of the top tier of every PC,” and Microsoft's May conference track reflects that goal. Microsoft has reported significant revenue growth from customers using AI models in the Azure public cloud, and the company wants to maintain this trend by rolling out new AI features to developers.
Microsoft's new head of AI, Mustafa Suleiman, will take the stage alongside Nadella and other longtime executives during the show's keynote address in Seattle. Suleiman — a co-founder of DeepMind, the AI startup acquired by Google in 2014 — joined Microsoft last month from startup Inflection AI.
For years, people looking to get the most out of Windows operating systems have been able to install PowerToys, an open source package of utilities that includes an image resizing tool and software for customizing keyboard shortcuts. At Build, Microsoft will talk about its new advanced paste feature, which relies on AI models running directly on computers, rather than having to send data to the cloud and receive responses.
The software maker will also talk about new AI features that “allow users to engage deeper with their digital lives on Windows,” according to a session description. Developers will be able to integrate these features into Windows applications.
As part of this strategy, Microsoft in March introduced Surface computers, which feature a Copilot button for quick access to the company's chatbot. These machines contain Intel Corporation Treatments. Microsoft has been working for years to improve the user experience on Windows PCs by running power-efficient chips on the Arm architecture instead of the standard x86 model used by Intel. At Build, Microsoft plans to discuss how Windows apps will be able to leverage Arm-based neural processing engines, or NPUs, for AI.
Organizations building their own chatbots in Azure AI Studio will learn about new AI safety features, which will aim to reduce the likelihood that models will generate data about sex and violence or pose security risks.
Microsoft is also trying to make Azure easier to use in general. The company will also talk about upcoming improvements to the Copilot chatbot accessible in Azure, which is currently available to select customers in preview mode.
You can find the full session catalog for the Build 2024 conference here.
