Microsoft Showcases New AI Development Tools

Microsoft unveiled a range of new tools designed to encourage developers to integrate AI technology into Windows software.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella introduces the Copilot stack on stage May 21 at Microsoft Build 2024 in Redmond, Washington. Photo by Dan DeLong / Microsoft

This news presented by the company this week marks its intensifying competition with Alphabet, Amazon.com, and Apple in the burgeoning AI field.

Speaking at a developer conference in Seattle, CEO Satya Nadella highlighted new application programming interfaces (APIs) that simplify access to Microsoft’s AI offerings for developers.

Microsoft announced that 1.8 million developers are now using GitHub Copilot, its generative AI tool aimed at enhancing programmers’ productivity.

The company also introduced new features for its Copilot AI software, which aids business productivity tools such as email and the Teams video and text chat platform. This follows a similar release by Alphabet’s Google, which showcased AI tools for office applications at its developer conference last week.

Additionally, Microsoft revealed that it would offer a platform of AMD AI chips to its cloud computing customers, providing an alternative to Nvidia’s industry-leading graphics processing units for AI computing. This platform, developed by Microsoft, employs Nvidia’s Infiniband networking technology to connect the processors.

According to Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s chief technology officer, OpenAI’s new GPT-4-o model, which operates on Microsoft’s infrastructure, is 12 times cheaper for developers to use than previous versions. Microsoft, the largest investor in OpenAI, integrates some of OpenAI’s cutting-edge technology into its own products.

Written by Vytautas Valinskas