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☆ Leaked Microsoft org chart reveals the top people running Mustafa Suleyman's new AI organization
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft in March hired Suleyman, head of startup Inflection AI and cofounder of AI pioneer Deepmind, to be CEO of a newly formed "Microsoft AI" group. Here are top players at Microsoft AI:AdvertisementKarén Simonyan, CVP and chief scientistKarén Simonyan Inflection AI Inflection AISimonyan is one of three Inflection co-founders. Kya Sainsbury-Carter, CVP Microsoft AdvertisingSainsbury-Carter is an 18-year veteran of Microsoft. Qi Zhang, CVP Microsoft AI APRDZhang is based in Beijing and has been at Microsoft for 22 years. Chris Daly, VP strategy and business operationsDaly joined Microsoft AI in May after spending about nine years in investment banking at Robey Warshaw.

Persons: —, Mustafa Suleyman, Suleyman, Karén Simonyan, Karén, Simonyan, Satya Nadella, Rob Cromwell, Cromwell, Gabor Hirschler, Hirschler, Mikhail Parakhin, Jordi Ribas, Bing, Rukmini Iyer, Iyer, Rajesh Sundaram, Sundaram, Ali Akgun, Panos Panay, Sainsbury, Carter, Qi Zhang, Zhang, Mike Davidson, Davidson, Michael Bhaskar, Bhaskar, DeepMind, Chris Daly, Daly, Robey Warshaw Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Business, Bing, Enterprise, Microsoft Edge, Carter, Microsoft Advertising, Pacific Research, Development, Twitter, NBCNews.com, Walt Disney Internet, Microsoft AI Locations: Copilot, Beijing, Asia, Pacific, London

☆ Here's everything you need to know about Big Tech's AI models and tools but were too afraid to ask
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The in-house AI model called MAI-1 is said to be trained using a public dataset and text from ChatGPT, a source told The Information. AdvertisementThe company has a text-to-image generator called Microsoft Designer, which launched last year after being tested in December 2022. MetaMeta has an AI assistant called Meta AI. NurPhoto/Getty ImagesMeta has an AI assistant called Meta AI, which is run on its open-source LLM, Llama. It also has an AI image generator called Imagine, which launched in December and was trained on public Facebook and Instagram photos.

Persons: —, Microsft, OpenAI, it's, Mustafa Suleyman, Shane Jones, VASA, Satya Nadella, OpenAI OpenAI, Sundar Pichai, OpenAI might've, Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI's chatbot, Sam Altman, Meta Meta Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Business, Microsoft Microsoft, Microsft Microsoft, Federal Trade Commission, MAI, Lumiere Meta, Google Google, Meta, Facebook, Titan, Anadolu Amazon's, Olympus, Web Services, Amazon Locations: ChatGPT, Anthropic

☆ A top secret meeting is kicking off in Madrid with the CEOs of Google DeepMind, Anthropic and Microsoft AI in attendance
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-30 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Google DeepMind co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Demis Hassabis gives a conference during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 26, 2024. The CEOs of artificial intelligence heavyweights Google DeepMind, Microsoft AI, Anthropic and Mistral AI are among the elite list of business and political leaders attending a secretive meeting kicking off in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday. AI will once again dominate discussions at the annual Bilderberg Meeting after catapulting onto the agenda last year following the meteoric rise of the burgeoning technology. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg are also among the political figures who will attend for geopolitical discussions including on China and Russia. According to its organizers, the closed nature of the event aims to foster "informal discussions about major issues."

Persons: Demis Hassabis, Jane Fraser, Eric Schmidt, Albert Bourla, Wael Sawan, Peter Thiel, Wally Adeyemo, Dmytro Kuleba, Jens Stoltenberg Organizations: Google, Mobile World Congress, MWC, Microsoft, Mistral, Citigroup, Pfizer, NATO, Chatham House, Economic Locations: Barcelona, Madrid, Spain, Ukrainian, China, Russia, Spanish, Chatham, Davos, Switzerland

☆ The biggest risk corporations see in gen AI usage isn't hallucinations
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Rachel Curry | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Meanwhile, 45% of organizations encountered unintended data exposure when implementing AI solutions, according to AvePoint's 2024 AI and Information Management Report. "It's often what we call dark data," Simberkoff said. So how do leaders improve data permissions and protections in light of or, ideally, before AI implementation? "It's making your end users aware of the information you're responsible for. "When you're using AI, it's really important to make sure that you're checking it and that you're using it for its purpose."

Persons: Dana Simberkoff, Simberkoff, Arvind Jain, Jain, Jason Hardy, Hardy, it's, they're Organizations: Microsoft, CNBC, Hitachi Vantara

☆ Microsoft’s carbon emissions have risen 30% since 2020 due to data center expansion
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft 's total carbon emissions have risen nearly 30% since 2020 primarily due to the construction of data centers, the company said in its annual sustainability report Wednesday. However, its indirect emissions — those that stem from all other activities Microsoft engages in — increased 30.9% during the same period. The increase in Microsoft's indirect emissions is largely due to the building materials and hardware components, such as semiconductors, servers and racks, used in constructing more data centers. The expansion of data centers poses a challenge to tech companies that have set ambitious timelines to eliminate their carbon footprints. Goldman Sachs expects natural gas to fuel 60% of the increased power demand from data centers, while renewables will power the remaining 40%.

Persons: Goldman Sachs Organizations: Microsoft Times, Microsoft, Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Locations: New York City, Swedish

☆ The frenemies running Microsoft and Google's AI ops have some serious history
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Less than four years later, Google acquired it for more than $500 million. AdvertisementWith Hassabis at the helm, the Google DeepMind is at the forefront of Google's AI push. Speaking about Suleyman, Hassabis told the newspaper: "Most of what he has learned about AI comes from working with me over all these years." AdvertisementLondon callingOne of Suleyman's first moves as Microsoft's newly installed AI chief was to launch an AI hub in London, which is also home to Google DeepMind. The move could prove savvy for Microsoft as major tech companies eye up Google's high-quality pool of AI talent.

Persons: —, Microsoft's Mustafa Suleyman, Suleyman, Hassabis, Shane Legg, Eric Schmidt, Schmidt, he's, he'd, Suleyman didn't Organizations: Service, University of Cambridge, Business, Google, Big, The New York Times, Fast Company, Microsoft, Greylock Partners, Hassabis Locations: London, DeepMind

☆ Biden to unveil $3.3 billion Microsoft AI investment in battleground Wisconsin
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden will visit the political battleground state of Wisconsin on Wednesday to announce plans by Microsoft Corp to build a $3.3 billion high-tech data center that will create thousands of jobs, the White House said. Microsoft's plans will result in 2,300 union construction jobs and some 2,000 permanent jobs over time, the White House said. It said nearly 4,000 jobs had been added in Racine since Biden took office, while about 1,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during the Trump administration. Biden is seeking to shore up support among Black voters ahead of the November presidential election, with national polls showing him essentially tied with Republican Trump. The Biden campaign on Wednesday announced the launch of a $14 million ad campaign, which will include a seven-figure investment targeting Black, Latino and Asian voters.

Persons: Joe Biden, Foxconn, Donald Trump, Microsoft's, Biden, Trump, — Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Microsoft, Gateway Technical College, Democrat, Black, Republican Trump, Wednesday Locations: Wisconsin, Racine County, Taiwan, Racine, Racine's Black

☆ Founder of Google DeepMind who was poached explains his first month at Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mustafa Suleyman, a founder of Google's DeepMind AI lab, has worked for Microsoft for about a month. Microsoft, Suleyman said, is "a truly AI-first business." Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementMustafa Suleyman, who co-founded Google's DeepMind AI lab and was the chief executive of the startup Inflection AI before Microsoft lured him away in March, is excited about his new gig. 5/5 At Microsoft AI we are up for this.

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Google's, Suleyman, —, I've, It's, it's, — Mustafa Suleyman, Satya Nadella, Kevin Scott, Nadella, Suleyman's, he's Organizations: Microsoft, Service, Business

☆ AI engineers report burnout, rushed rollouts as 'rat race' to stay competitive hits tech industry
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

The AI engineer bailed on his friends, who had traveled from the East Coast to the Seattle area. watch nowThis is the dark underbelly of the generative AI gold rush. Last year marked the beginning of the generative AI boom, following the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT near the end of 2022. Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesAn AI engineer at Microsoft said the company is engaged in an "AI rat race." The Microsoft AI engineer said a lot of tasks are about "trying to create AI hype" with no practical use.

Persons: Sebastien Bozon, Jensen Huang, Tech's, Amy Hood, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Andy Jassy, Jassy, they're, Eric Gu, “, Gu, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, Justin Sullivan, there's, Morry, Kolman, doesn't, Sundar Pichai, Bard, There's, That's, beholden, Ayodele Odubela, ", it’s, Adam Selipsky, Anthropic, Dario Amodei, Noah Berger, Odubela, Gemini Organizations: Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, AFP, Getty, Amazon, CNBC, Big Tech, Nvidia, Google . Engineers, Tech, Vision, Cloud Next, Web, Amazon Web Locations: Mulhouse, France, East Coast, Seattle, ChatGPT, San Francisco, Vegas, Las Vegas, German

☆ Friends From the Old Neighborhood Turn Rivals in Big Tech’s A.I. Race
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Cade Metz | Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Today, they are two of the most powerful executives in the tech industry’s race to build artificial intelligence. Dr. Hassabis, 47, is the chief executive of Google DeepMind, the tech giant’s central research lab for artificial intelligence. Mr. Suleyman, 39, was recently named chief executive of Microsoft AI, charged with overseeing the company’s push into A.I. In 2010, they were two of the three founders of DeepMind, a seminal A.I. research lab that was supposed to prevent the very thing they are now deeply involved in: an escalating race by profit-driven companies to build and deploy A.I.

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Hassabis, Demis, —, Suleyman Organizations: National Health Service, Queen Elizabeth’s, Google, Microsoft, Big Tech, DeepMind Locations: Syrian, Cypriot, London

☆ It looks like Microsoft's ex-Bing boss just threw shade at Mustafa Suleyman
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Former Bing chief Mikhail Parakhin appeared to subtly criticize Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. Parakhin wrote it's "hard to disagree" when an X user said "we need you." The comment was in response to a post quoting Suleyman's recent TED Talk that was blasted by VCs. Mikhail Parakhin, who stepped down from his role just days after Suleyman became CEO of Microsoft AI, commented under an X post about the DeepMind cofounder. An X user wrote "We need you ngl" (short for "not gonna lie") under a post summarizing Suleyman's TED Talk last week, which some critics have been ripping into.

Persons: Mikhail Parakhin, Mustafa Suleyman, Parakhin, Suleyman's, —, Suleyman Organizations: Bing, Microsoft, VCs, Service, Business

☆ The Mona Lisa rapping? New Microsoft AI animates faces from photos
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —The Mona Lisa can now do more than smile, thanks to new artificial intelligence technology from Microsoft. In one demo video, researchers showed how they animated the Mona Lisa to recite a comedic rap by actor Anne Hathaway. Outputs from the AI model, called VASA-1, are both entertaining and a bit jarring in their realness. “We are opposed to any behavior to create misleading or harmful contents of real persons,” Microsoft researchers said in a blog post. For example, in one demo video set to a clip of someone sounding agitated, apparently while playing video games, the face speaking has furrowed brows and pursed lips.

Persons: Mona Lisa, Anne Hathaway, VASA, it’s, OpenAI, Sora Organizations: New, New York CNN, Microsoft Locations: New York

☆ Microsoft will unveil new Windows and cloud AI features in May
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft has reported significant revenue growth from clients running AI models in its Azure public cloud, and the company wants to keep the trend going by rolling out new AI features for developers. The new head of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, will take the stage alongside CEO Satya Nadella and other longtime executives during the show's opening keynote in Seattle. Suleyman — a cofounder of DeepMind, the AI startup that Google acquired in 2014 — joined Microsoft last month from startup Inflection AI. The software maker will also talk about new AI features "that allow users deeper interaction with their digital lives on Windows," according to one session description. At Build, Microsoft plans to discuss how Windows apps will be able to tap Arm-based neural processing engines, or NPUs, for AI.

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Nadella, Satya Nadella, Suleyman —, —, Dan Ives Organizations: Ltd, Economic, Microsoft, Microsoft's, DeepMind, Google, Windows, Intel Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Seattle

☆ Microsoft just set the stage for an all-out AI talent war with Google
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementMicrosoft is opening a new artificial-intelligence unit in London, putting itself firmly on the turf of its biggest AI rival: Google DeepMind. In the battle for top AI talent, a bigger London presence could be a savvy move for Microsoft. Related storiesLast year, in response to increased pressure from rivals such as OpenAI, Google merged DeepMind with its central AI unit Brain, forming the new Google DeepMind. Meta itself recently lost three top AI employees, while Google has lost a steady stream of employees to OpenAI over the past year. As the Big Tech AI arms race for talent continues to heat up, Google may have to work even harder to stem the bleeding.

Persons: —, Mustafa Suleyman, Suleyman, Jordan Huffman, It's, OpenAI's, Alex Libre, BI's Aaron Mok, Sergey Brin, OpenAI, Mustafa Suleyman's Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Service, Gemini, Meta, who's, Big Tech Locations: London

☆ Microsoft picks company veteran Pavan Davuluri to lead Windows and Surface
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft said Monday it has selected company veteran Pavan Davuluri to lead its Windows operating system and Surface devices teams. Davuluri's promotion comes a week after Microsoft said it was hiring former DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as the head of a new organization called Microsoft AI. The Windows team will continue to work closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences.The Web Experiences team will report into Mustafa in the new Microsoft AI organization. Mike Davidson continues to lead Design and will work with Pavan and team on how to realign Windows design. They will join the Microsoft AI leadership team along with Jordi, Mike, and Rukmini, all reporting to Mustafa.We are excited for this team to help Microsoft AI achieve its bold ambition to build world-class consumer AI products.

Persons: Pavan Davuluri, Panos Panay, DeepMind, Mustafa Suleyman, Mikhail Parakhin, Parakhin, Kevin Scott, Rajesh Jha, Davuluri, Read, Satya, Shilpa Ranganathan, Jeff Johnson, Mustafa, Jordi Ribas, Andrey Proskurin, Fatima Kardar, Nick Lee, Rukmini Iyer, Paul Viola, Weiqing, Mike Davidson, Pavan, Ali Akgun, Kya Sainsbury, Carter, Qi Zhang, Rajesh Sundaram's, Jordi, Mike, Rukmini Organizations: Microsoft, Windows, Bing, WWE

☆ Microsoft's reshuffle continues as Bing chief plans to exit the role. It comes days after Satya Nadella poached Mustafa Suleyman.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bing chief Mikhail Parakhin is leaving the role and will report to Microsoft's CTO in the meantime. The reorganization comes days after Satya Nadella tapped Mustafa Suleyman to lead its AI efforts. Days after Satya Nadella announced he was bringing Inflection AI's cofounder Mustafa Suleyman into the mix as its EVP and CEO of Microsoft AI, Mikhail Parakhin has "decided to explore new roles." Related storiesParakhin, who led the company's Bing search engine and advertising businesses, will report to Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott. AdvertisementMicrosoft has built AI into its Bing search engine and created other AI tools for Windows and Office under the Copilot brand over the last year.

Persons: Bing, Mikhail Parakhin, Parakhin, Satya Nadella, Mustafa Suleyman, —, Kevin Scott, Pavan, Rajesh Jha, Microsoft's, Satya, Nadella, Suleyman, Karén Simonyan, Simonyan, Nadella's, Microsoft didn't Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Google, Windows, Bloomberg

☆ Microsoft's hiring of Inflection staff came amid a lack of consumer-AI vision and board concerns about OpenAI, insiders say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-20 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft's hiring spree from the startup Inflection AI came amid concerns from the software giant's board about instability at OpenAI and internal doubts about consumer-AI vision and strategy, insiders said. Suleyman, who cofounded the AI pioneer DeepMind, is set to be CEO of Microsoft AI. Microsoft's consumer-AI vision needed a boostSome Microsoft insiders told Business Insider the company's consumer-AI strategy needed a boost and more of a visionary leader. As the new CEO of Microsoft AI, Suleyman's purview is set to include thousands of employees who report to Mikhail Parakhin. Parakhin has played a significant role in Microsoft's AI work and is generally respected within the company for his technical prowess.

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Karén Simonyan, Suleyman, they've, Mikhail Parakhin, Parakhin, Rajesh Jha, Jha wasn't, Jha, Microsoft's, Frank Shaw, Shaw, Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Nadella hadn't, Nadella, Amy Hood, It's, didn't, OpenAI Organizations: Big Tech, Business, Microsoft, BI, Google, Insiders, Microsoft's Locations: OpenAI

Mustafa Suleyman, Co-founder Inflection.ai & DeepMind, speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 17th, 2024. Microsoft said Tuesday it has hired Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of artificial intelligence startup DeepMind that Google acquired in 2014, to lead Copilot AI initiatives. Suleyman will become an executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft AI, reporting to CEO Satya Nadella. The new Microsoft AI group will work on Copilot, which appears in Bing, Windows and other Microsoft products. WATCH: We've hit 'peak hype' of the AI revolution, says DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Inflection.ai, Suleyman, Satya Nadella, DeepMind, Elon Musk, Karén, Nadella, Mustafa, Demis Hassabis, Hassabis Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Windows, Consumer Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Bing

☆ Microsoft AI employee warns FTC the company’s Copilot Designer AI tool is prone to creating harmful images
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Shane Jones, a Microsoft principal software engineering lead, claimed that the company’s AI text-to-image generator Copilot Designer has “systemic issues” that cause it to frequently produce potentially offensive or inappropriate images, including sexualized images of women. He said he spent months testing Microsoft’s tool — as well as OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, the technology that Microsoft’s Copilot Designer is built on — and attempted to raise concerns internally before he alerted the FTC. He said he found more than 200 examples of “concerning images” created by Copilot Designer. Jones’ letter comes amid growing concerns that AI image generators — which are increasingly capable of producing convincing, photorealistic images — can cause harm by spreading offensive or misleading images. In his letter to Microsoft’s board of directors, Jones called on the company to take similar action.

Persons: Shane Jones, Jones, ” Jones, Lina Khan, “, OpenAI’s DALL, Microsoft “, OpenAI, Jones ’, Taylor Swift, Gemini, Bob Ferguson Organizations: New, New York CNN, Microsoft, US Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Copilot, Google, Washington, US, Commerce, Science, Transportation Locations: New York, United States, White

☆ Copilot dreams and nightmares: Microsoft insiders share what they really think about the company's AI future.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

"Customers trust Microsoft more than OpenAI since they already buy Microsoft's ecosystem," a Microsoft AI researcher told BI. "Almost everyone I know is working on Copilot to a certain extent," the Microsoft AI researcher told BI. "It's too premature to assume this is going to be a race to the bottom on price," another Microsoft executive said. Some Microsoft employees work so closely with OpenAI that they have badges to get into OpenAI's offices, and some OpenAI employees can badge into Microsoft locations. Mistral models will be offered to Microsoft customers along with about 1,600 other models including Cohere and Meta's Llama.

Persons: there's, Morgan Stanley, Satya Nadella, they've, they're, Frank Shaw, Shaw, That's, OpenAI, JPMorgan Chase, It's, Dentsu, Shiva Vannavada, Vannavada, Eric Boyd, Scott, John Montgomery, Asha Sharma, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Microsoft, Business, Enterprise, Walmart, JPMorgan, BI, Google, Dentsu, Product, Technology, Employees, Nvidia, DA Davidson, AI Services, AI Bot, OpenAI Locations: OpenAI, Mistral

☆ Big Tech’s next key market is India. Here’s how four Club portfolio names are playing it
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Just days after delivering a stellar quarter, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was on a whirlwind speaking tour throughout India. The Indian market also represents a largely untapped market that will diversify revenue streams. Over the summer, India became Amazon's first market in Asia to launch its dedicated virtual cargo airline , dubbed Amazon Air. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Morgan Stanley, Chetan Ahya, Ahya, Bernstein, Nadella, Zev Fima, Fima, Tim Cook, Amazon, Sundar Pichai, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim Organizations: Microsoft, Apple, country's Ministry, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Club, Foxconn Technology, Media, Amazon, Walmart, Web Services, Google, CNBC Locations: India, Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, China, Asia, United States, Chennai, Puna, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, India's, Gujarat

☆ Electricity demand from data centers, AI and crypto could double in 2 years. How to play it
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Pia Singh | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The firm pointed to recent data from the International Energy Agency, which forecasted that electricity consumption from data centers, artificial intelligence and the cryptocurrency sector could double by 2026. "The latest IEA electricity forecasts paint an even more alarming outlook for data center consumption," analyst Hiral Patel wrote in a Monday note. Barclays said it is looking at three investment areas that are a key part of the trend: data center operators, data center suppliers and data center grid infrastructure builders. After successfully using lithium-ion batteries at a Dublin data center , Microsoft wants to expand grid-interactive battery storage in other areas. That includes nine data centers in Ireland, which is a data center hotspot in Europe that's also under increased risk given its soaring electricity consumption, Barclays said.

Persons: Hiral Patel, Morgan Stanley's, Europe that's, Stifel Nicolaus, Eaton Organizations: Barclays, International Energy Agency, CNBC, Microsoft, Electricity, Constellation, Digital Realty Trust, Digital, European Union, Blackstone, Digital Realty, Devices, AMD, Tech Locations: Japan, U.S, Dublin, Ireland, Europe, European, Frankfurt, Paris, Virginia

☆ Vodafone signs $1.5 bln Microsoft deal for AI, cloud and IoT
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

(Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Vodafone has agreed a 10-year partnership with Microsoft to bring generative AI, digital, enterprise and cloud services to more than 300 million businesses and consumers across its European and African markets. Microsoft's Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff said Vodafone's strength in IoT and financial services were strategically important. Microsoft deploys "digital twins" to model manufacturing environments so that process improvements can be tested in the cloud. "Vodafone's IoT stack allows us to go into those environments, model the environment, create large-scale data stores, and use AI to help customers meet their sustainability goals," he said. "We are excited to bring generative AI capabilities to help customers make more intelligent financial decisions," he said.

Persons: Budrul Chukrut, Vodafone's, Luka Mucic, Judson Althoff Organizations: Vodafone, LON, Getty Images, Microsoft Locations: CHINA, British, Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa

☆ Microsoft starts selling its Copilot AI tool for email and documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

On Wednesday, the company started selling the Microsoft 365 Copilot artificial intelligence add-on for its Office app subscriptions targeting businesses. Wong said Gartner encourages organizations to experiment with generative AI, which can create synthetic images and text with just a few words of human input. "I think getting to 20% will be reasonable within two to three years for technologies like Copilot, because there's going to be early adopters, and there's going to be fast followers," he said. Microsoft acknowledges on its website that "the responses that generative AI produces aren't guaranteed to be 100% factual." Microsoft says prompts and responses in Copilot aren't used to train language models and adhere to the company's privacy standards.

Persons: Piper Sandler, Brent Bracelin, Hannah Rudoff, Piper Sandler's, Bracelin, Satya Nadella, Nadella, we've, Jason Wong, Wong, Gartner, Piper Sandler's Bracelin, ChatGPT, aren't, Katie Stockton Organizations: Microsoft, Google, CNBC, Copilot, Bayer, KPMG, Mayo Clinic, Suncorp, Visa, Gartner, Companies

☆ Gen Z doesn't know how to write emails. AI is coming to Outlook, so it might help.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A new Microsoft AI tool could make up for the soft skills that some managers say Gen Z lacks . Microsoft 365 Copilot will us AI to help users write better emails, the company says. AdvertisementAdvertisementCompanies that use Microsoft Outlook for correspondence are getting an AI-powered tool that will help draft emails beginning next month. Some managers have complained about their supposedly lazy Gen Z workers, who they need to be supervised all day to ensure they're keeping up with their tasks. ResumeBuilder.com surveyed more than 1,300 US managers in April, and most of them said that Gen Z is the "most challenging generation" to work with.

Persons: —, Copilot, ResumeBuilder.com, Cherie Gartner, there's, It's Organizations: Microsoft, Service, KPMG, Visa, General Motors, Lumen Technologies, CNN

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