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☆ Beyond the metaverse
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Pwc | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

However, many consumers — and even business leaders — are still confused about what the metaverse actually is and how it will work. No matter what you call it — the metaverse, spatial computing, the 3D web – when the metaverse is broken down into its component parts, more realistic applications emerge. "We call it Metaverse Technologies for a reason." PwCIt's not just retail; events that have traditionally relied on in-person participation are also embracing a combination of metaverse technologies. The Venice Carnival is just one example of how metaverse technologies can create new ways for people to connect, learn, and experience the world.

Persons: —, Roberto Hernandez, We've, Hernandez, Joe Harrington, Harrington, We're, Alberto Bozzo, Ve.La, PwC Organizations: Technologies, PwC, Venice Carnival, Venice, Companies, Insider Studios Locations: Venice

Microsoft is weaving AI into its own products, such as the $30-a-month "Copilot" assistant for its Microsoft 365 service that can summarize a day's worth of emails into a quick update. Microsoft's results show heavy spending on AI services ahead of commensurate revenue growth. For the segment that includes Azure, Microsoft forecast a first-quarter revenue range with a midpoint of $23.45 billion. Microsoft's forecast for its Windows segment had a midpoint of $12.7 billion, below analysts' estimate of $13.14 billion. Microsoft has started integrating AI functionality across its products such as Azure, Microsoft 365, GitHub and several developer tools.

Persons: Amy Hood, Hood, Satya Nadella, Yuvraj Malik, Devika Syamnath, Richard Chang Organizations: Microsoft, Wall, Nvidia Corp, Revenue, Alpha, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Microsoft beats quarterly estimates as AI boosts cloud business
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Tuesday surpassed Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and profit as its cloud business benefited from product upgrades featuring new artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Revenue rose to $56.2 billion in the quarter ended June, compared with analysts' consensus estimate of $55.5 billion, according to Refinitiv. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud unit, which houses the Azure cloud computing platform, grew revenue to $24 billion, compared with expectations of $23.8 billion. It is also aiming to sell cloud computing services that other firms will use to build AI services. The Microsoft segment containing the LinkedIn social network and its Office productivity software grew to $18.3 billion, compared with analysts' consensus estimate of $18.1 billion according to Refinitiv data.

Persons: Yuvraj Malik, Devika Organizations: Microsoft, Alpha, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Look to Microsoft's earnings for how A.I. is shaping business
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailLook to Microsoft's earnings for how A.I. is shaping businessCNBC's Steve Kovach joins the investment committee on 'Halftime Report' to discuss Microsoft's 365 Copilot A.I. pricing, a potential reversal in the slow growth of Microsoft's Azure Cloud and PC demand numbers.

Persons: Steve Kovach

☆ Why we're raising our price target on Microsoft despite a softer revenue outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Revenues beat across the board, Azure's revenue growth decelerated in line with expectations, and companywide operating margins expanded nicely from last year. But total revenues fell a little less than expected, at 4%, mostly due to a 12% decline in Windows OEM revenue and a 18% drop in devices revenue growth. Gaming revenue grew 2%, with Xbox content and services revenue up 6%, offset by a 13% decline in Xbox hardware. In the productivity and business processes segment, revenue increased about 10% from last year thanks to a 15% increase in Office 365 Commercial Revenue growth. Microsoft sees Azure revenue growing 25% to 26% in constant currency, including roughly 2 points from all Azure AI services.

Persons: Amy Hood, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Satya Nadella, Flipkart, Nadella, Amit Madheshiya Organizations: Microsoft, Revenue, Refinitiv, Revenues, Services, Activision Blizzard, Office Consumer Products, Nvidia, CNBC, Microsoft Corp, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: Mumbai, India

☆ Not to Jinx It, but Is the Commute Easier Lately?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Kaya Laterman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ms. Sanders, 40, recently shocked her firm’s summer interns when she mentioned she could almost always be found in the office on Fridays. “It’s become my most reliable office day, because my drive now is that much easier.”Ms. Sanders is hardly alone in her quest for a Zen commute. On average, drivers in the New York metropolitan area lose about 132 hours per year in traffic, according to a recent survey by CoPilot, a car-buying app. “You’re guaranteed a seat,” said Ms. Gorman, 49. According to to publicly available data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Monday is now the easiest weekday to travel around the metro region.

Persons: Sanders, It’s, Ms, Laura Gorman, “ You’re, ”, Gorman, “, “ Don’t Organizations: Grand Central, Jamaica, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Locations: New York, East Northport, Grand

☆ Microsoft shares hit a record high this week. How the pros are playing it
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Pretty much everyone believes that generative AI is going to be a critical place to be in the coming decades, and I think Microsoft is far ahead of everyone else." At its steep multiple and price appreciation, she is refraining from buying shares that look "due for a breather." MSFT 5D mountain Microsoft shares this week Most analysts and investors agree that Copilot represents a big opportunity for Microsoft, but some remain skeptical of how much it will be able to monetize and how many users it can attract. Earnings next week could offer the next big catalyst for Microsoft. Microsoft is so well known that any kind of growth investor would have that philosophy."

Persons: Nancy Tengler, Tengler, Paul Meeks, Meeks, Ken Mahoney, Mahoney, Goldman Sachs, Kash Rangan, Citi's Tyler Radke, Guggenheim's John DiFucci, You've, Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, Laffer, Investments, Mahoney Asset Management Locations: overbought

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Investment banking sees signs of life
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Banking on Bank of AmericaInvestors pushed Bank of America shares up 4.42% on the bank's earnings and revenue beat for the second quarter. Profit rose 19% to $7.41 billion while revenue increased 11% to $25.33 billion, helped by a 14% jump in net interest income. But fund managers are still cautious, according to the latest Bank of America Global Fund Manager Survey.

Persons: Ocado, Morgan Morgan Stanley's, James Gorman's, we've Organizations: CNBC, Dow Jones, Microsoft, Revenue, Bank of America Investors, Bank of America, Bank of America Global Fund, Survey

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Investment banking’s coming back
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Meanwhile, investors pushed Bank of America shares up 4.42% on the bank's earnings and revenue beat for the second quarter. [PRO] Predictions for the global marketThe U.S. stock market has rallied this year, but the picture across the world is more varied. CNBC Pro asked 15 market strategists to predict how global stock markets will end the year.

Persons: Morgan Stanley's, I'm Organizations: CNBC, Dow Jones, Nikkei, Microsoft, Revenue, Bank of America, Employees, Google, CNBC Pro, U.S . Locations: Asia, Pacific, U.S

☆ Microsoft's market value soared as much as $154 billion in just a day. That nearly matched Jeff Bezos' entire fortune.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Joseph Wilkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft gained as much as $154 billion in market cap in a single day after unveiling the Copilot subscription service. The tech giant is poised to become the second company ever to reach a $3 trillion valuation, according to Morgan Stanley. That saw its market cap balloon by as much as the above-mentioned figure during intraday trades, before ending the session with a $102 billion increase. Amazon founder Bezos' wealth totaled $157 billion as of Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index. Their combined value now stands at an eye-watering $11 trillion – which, to offer another comparison, is nearly triple the GDP of Germany.

Persons: Jeff Bezos's, Morgan Stanley, Jeff Bezos, Bezos, OpenAI's, Tesla, Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss Organizations: Microsoft, Service, Bloomberg, Apple, Nvidia Locations: Wall, Silicon, OpenAI, Germany

☆ Microsoft's latest A.I. subscription is boosting Wall Street's confidence in the software giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Analysts are turning more bullish on Microsoft and its artificial intelligence capabilities after the software giant revealed pricing for its A.I. Shares closed at a record Tuesday after Microsoft revealed a $30 fee for its monthly Copilot offering, which adds AI capabilities to Microsoft 365. The announcements led to a handful of Wall Street price target adjustments, as the company solidifies its dominance in the latest technology revolution consuming the investing community. The analyst has an overweight rating on the stock and raised his price target to $385 per share from $350. The analyst hiked his price target to $400 from $330.

Persons: chatbot, Microsoft's, Amy Hood, Mark Murphy, James, Brad Sills, Sills, Brad Zelnick, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, Meta, Bank of America Locations: ChatGPT

☆ What if AI models like GPT-4 don't automatically improve over time?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

GPT-4 users have complained that the OpenAI model is getting 'dumber.' Their findings, published on Tuesday, challenge the assumption that AI models automatically improve. One of the bedrock assumptions of the current artificial intelligence boom is that AI models "learn" and improve over time. This is what users of OpenAI's GPT-4, the world's most-powerful AI model, have been experiencing lately. This recent GPT-4 research paper provides a healthy dose of skepticism to the assumptions that are driving these wild swings in value.

Persons: OpenAI's, OpenAI, Matei Zaharia, Zaharia, Gary Marcus, Marcus Organizations: Twitter, Microsoft Locations: OpenAI

Here's the latest AI developments at Salesforce, Apple and Microsoft — along with our take on the news. A generative AI experience built into Apple devices, however, would be an entirely new feature for users. Apple's smart assistant Siri would be the natural place to implement generative AI within the Apple ecosystem. The company promotes both generative AI tools as a way to improve productivity . We've long believed this to be true – and that's why we greeted Salesforce's price-hike announcement last week with open arms – but Wednesday's incremental generative AI updates reinforce our conviction.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Microsoft's, Jim Cramer, ChatGPT, Bing, OpenAI's ChatGPT, BARD, Siri, Salesforce, Einstein, Morgan Stanley's, Jim Cramer's, Jim, Chino Organizations: Microsoft, Apple, Big Tech, Nasdaq, Barclays, Bloomberg, Google, Einstein, CNBC Locations: Wall, Silicon Valley, Wells Fargo

☆ Microsoft adds $154 billion in market value after it announces $30 per month AI subscription
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft stock surged as much as 6% on Tuesday after the company unveiled an AI subscription for its Office 365 platform. The software giant will charge $30 per month per user to have AI capabilities integrated into its Microsoft Office platform. At its peak on Tuesday, Microsoft added $154 billion to its market value, which is bigger than Morgan Stanley. Investors cheered the move and the company's apparent pricing power, with Microsoft stock adding as much as $154 billion to its market valuation at its peak on Tuesday. Microsoft stock hit a record high of $366.78 in Tuesday trades and was on track to close at its highest level ever.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Yusuf Mehdi, Dan Ives, Ives Organizations: Microsoft, Service, Intel, Honeywell, Bing Locations: Wall, Silicon, Copilot, OpenAI

☆ Microsoft stock pops after it announces $30 per month A.I. subscription for Microsoft 365
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft shares rose as much as 5.8% Tuesday after the company announced a new artificial intelligence subscription service for Microsoft 365. The company will charge users an additional $30 per month for the use of generative AI with tools such as Teams, Excel and Word. Adding on the subscription to Copilot, a generative AI assistant that works across Microsoft 365 programs, could increase monthly prices for enterprise customers as much as 83%. The updates come as the race to offer consumer-driven generative AI tools heats up among tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, IBM and more. The company also announced a significant update to Bing Chat, its AI chatbot, on Tuesday: visual search.

Persons: It's, Bing Organizations: Microsoft, Google, IBM, Goodyear, General Motors

☆ Microsoft closes at record after revealing pricing for new A.I. subscription
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Todd Haselton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the company's Ignite Spotlight event in Seoul on Nov. 15, 2022. Microsoft shares closed at a record on Tuesday after the company announced pricing for its new Microsoft 365 artificial intelligence subscription service. Microsoft's Copilot subscription service adds AI to the company's popular Office products like Word, Excel and Teams. Microsoft has been pouring money into generative artificial intelligence, largely through a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. Microsoft Copilot, first announced in March, can design presentations, offer writing prompts, summarize meetings and rank incoming emails.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Nadella, It's, Microsoft hasn't, — CNBC's Hayden Field Organizations: Microsoft, Goodyear, General Motors, CNBC, YouTube Locations: Seoul, OpenAI

The company also said it would make a more secure version of its Bing search engine available immediately to businesses, aiming to address their data-protection concerns, grow their interest in AI and compete more with Google. The voluntary upgrade is on top of publicly listed, monthly plans ranging from $12.50 per user to $57, meaning the copilot could triple costs for some Microsoft customers. Unlike the public Bing that millions of web surfers have accessed in recent months, the enterprise version will not allow any viewing or saving of user data to train underlying technology. Asked if Bing users were unprotected until now, Spataro said Microsoft had made its privacy policies clear and was eager to bring AI to consumers. It may also draw customers to Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI upgrade giving access to business data and compliance controls.

Persons: Jared Spataro, Spataro, Bing, Jeffrey Dastin, Stephen Coates Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Bing Chat, Thomson Locations: copilot, Palo Alto, Calif

Kin Cheung | Pool | Getty ImagesLONDON — Two countries are jockeying for position as Europe's capital for artificial intelligence. So, who is leading the race to take Europe's AI crown? The European Union has its AI Act, which is set to be the first comprehensive set of laws focusing on artificial intelligence in the West. In contrast the EU's AI Act could make France "less attractive" for investment in artificial intelligence given that it lays down "a burdensome regulatory regime" for AI, Tanna said. Alexandre Lebrun, CEO of Nabla, an AI "copilot" for doctors, said the U.K. and France are "probably even" when it comes to attractiveness for starting an AI company.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Emmanuel Macron, Kin Cheung, Macron, Karen Tso, Sunak, it's, Sajid Javid, Boris Johnson's, Simmons, Tanna, Anton Dahbura, Alexandre Lebrun, Lebrun, who've, Keir Starmer Organizations: British, Viva Tech, London Tech, Microsoft, U.S, CNBC, supercomputing, European Union, Johns Hopkins Institute, Autonomy, Google, Facebook, EU, Labour Locations: Europe, China, VivaTech, Paris, France, U.S, West, Germany, London

"High level, we want this to become something like your personal AI friend," said developer Div Garg, whose company MultiOn is beta-testing an AI agent. The race towards increasingly autonomous AI agents has been supercharged by the March release of GPT-4 by developer OpenAI, a powerful upgrade of the model behind ChatGPT - the chatbot that became a sensation when released last November. GPT-4 facilitates the type of strategic and adaptable thinking required to navigate the unpredictable real world, said Vivian Cheng, an investor at venture capital firm CRV who has a focus on AI agents. OpenAI itself is very interested in AI agent technology, according to four people briefed on its plans. There are at least 100 serious projects working to commercialize agents, said Matt Schlicht, who writes a newsletter on AI.

Persons: Siri, Alexa, Tony Stark's, Kanjun Qiu, Reid Hoffman, Mustafa Suleyman, Qiu, OpenAI, Vivian Cheng, CRV, Aravind Srinivas, Jarvis, Yoshua Bengio, Satya Nadella, Apple's Siri, it's, Google, Edward Grefenstette, Jason Franklin, WVV Capital, Hesam Motlagh, Matt Schlicht, Anna Tong, Jeffrey Dastin, Kenneth Li Organizations: Microsoft, Google, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Reuters, FTC, OpenAI's, Financial Times, Amazon, Alexa, Investors, WVV, Google Ventures, Entrepreneurs, Thomson Locations: Silicon, Jarvis, GPT, Cognosys, San Francisco, Palo Alto

☆ UBS says Microsoft shares are 'too attractive' not to buy
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The artificial intelligence opportunity and recent underperformance of Microsoft make it hard to stay on the sidelines, UBS said. Analyst Karl Keirstead upgraded the technology stock to buy from neutral and raised his price target by $55 to $400. "We upgrade Microsoft shares to Buy from Neutral on evidence that Azure/AWS cloud infrastructure spend is beginning to stabilize after a significant deceleration over the past year," he said in a note to clients Thursday. Keirstead downgraded Microsoft early in the year, arguing that spending trends for cloud programs such as Azure and Amazon Web Services were going downhill. He argued that Azure's decline, in the case of Microsoft, could weigh on the stock.

Persons: Karl Keirstead, Keirstead, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, UBS, Web Services

☆ Your Word, Outlook, and Excel apps might look different. Microsoft just changed its default font for the first time in 15 years.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft announced this week that it's changing its default Office font to Aptos. Microsoft Office users may notice that their documents look different. Microsoft announced this week that it's replacing Calibri, its default font for the last 15 years, with a new font, Aptos. Aptos will officially become the default font for all customers in the upcoming months. Microsoft said that changes to its default font were needed to adapt its suite of Microsoft Office tools to higher resolution screens as technology continues to evolve.

Persons: Aptos, Steve Matteson, —, Tenorite, Matteson's Organizations: Microsoft, Toyota, Google, Windows Locations: Calibri, — Grandview, Seaford, Skeena, Santa Cruz , California

☆ How AI’s astonishing productivity gains could help curb inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Experts say the technology will help address a steep and prolonged slowdown in productivity growth in many Western economies, which has kept businesses’ costs higher than they would otherwise be and made inflation harder to tame. “AI has huge potential to increase productivity,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said at the company’s Investor Day last month. Productivity gains in Europe could be similar, albeit slightly smaller, Brynjolfsson told CNN. In some cases, productivity gains could be achieved sooner. That’s because most generative AI tools live on the internet — “the technology we already have on our desks” — making them widely accessible, Brynjolfsson said.

Persons: chatbot, —, Smart, Hannes P Albert, Bill Gates, Larry Fink, Erik Brynjolfsson, ” David McMillan, ” McMillan, Hollie Adams, Neil Shearing, Martin Neil Baily, Anton Korinek, Brynjolfsson, Goldman Sachs, ” Organizations: London CNN, Microsoft, BlackRock, CNN, Stanford University, Organisation for Economic Cooperation, Development, OECD, University of Stirling, Bloomberg, Getty, “, National Statistics, IBM, Capital, Brookings Institute, University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, America, Productivity, Google, SAP, Goldman Locations: East, Scotland, London, United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Wimbledon

☆ CEO says these 3 A.I. tools can make you more efficient at work: They're going to be 'truly disruptive'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Gili Malinsky | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The internet is rife with conversations about the release of generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and what changes they could ultimately lead to in the job market. Meanwhile, early adopters of these AI tools are finding them to be a big help when it comes to day-to-day tasks. Jacqueline DeStefano-Tangorra, CEO and founder of boutique consulting firm Omni Business Intelligence Solutions, started experimenting with ChatGPT as a way to analyze her poetry. She learned how to tailor prompts and started figuring out ways to adopt it and other AI tools to make her more efficient at work. Here are three generative AI tools DeStefano-Tangorra would recommend trying for various administrative tasks.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Jacqueline DeStefano, DeStefano, Tangorra, ChatGPT, . DeStefano Organizations: Omni Business Intelligence Solutions, Google, Microsoft

Morgan Stanley raised its Microsoft stock outlook to the highest on Wall Street, implying the company once famous for Windows software will climb above a market value of $3 trillion because of artificial intelligence. The generative AI boom has already helped propel Microsoft's stock by almost 41% year to date — and Morgan Stanley's new price target implies it will climb another 23% over the next 12 months. Weiss raised his price target on Microsoft by 24%, to $415 from $335. Morgan Stanley called Microsoft its top pick among large-cap software stocks on account of the company's strong positioning in the generative AI boom. MSFT YTD mountain Microsoft stock Weiss said Microsoft has taken a "leading position" providing the "picks and shovels" of the AI boom — large language models, data management and other technologies.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, —, Morgan, Keith Weiss, Weiss, FactSet, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, Windows, Software, OpenAI

☆ Microsoft could soar 22% and will top a $3 trillion valuation as it's best positioned to monetize generative AI, Morgan Stanley says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft stock is poised to top a $3 trillion valuation in early 2024 as it is best positioned to monetize generative AI, according to Morgan Stanley. "Microsoft likely emerges as an early 'Picks and Shovels' beneficiary" of generative AI, Morgan Stanley said. The bank called Microsoft stock a "Top Pick" and said it has 22% upside potential from current levels thanks to its "pole position" in the generative AI race that should help it quickly monetize the growing trend. And investors should see the impact of AI on Microsoft's financials sooner rather than later as increased datasets flow into bigger revenues for Microsoft's Azure cloud service. And although Microsoft's stock is up about 40% year-to-date, its valuation isn't stretched based on historical averages, "despite the unrivaled Generative AI positioning," Weiss concluded.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, —, Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss, Weiss Organizations: Microsoft, Service, Apple, OpenAI Locations: OpenAI

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