Microsoft

Microsoft

The 8 Biggest Announcements from Microsoft Ignite 2024

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Chris McKay• November 20, 2024 • 3 min read

This year, Microsoft's annual Ignite conference brought a wave of significant AI announcements, with business integration, ROI and security taking center stage. Here are the seven most impactful revelations from the event: 1. Microsoft 365 Copilot Gets Powerful New Agents Microsoft is revolutionizing workplace productivity with new purpose-built

Microsoft Enterprise AI

Microsoft Copilot in Outlook Gets Smarter About Your Calendar

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Chris McKay• November 19, 2024 • 1 min read

With Copilot's new scheduling and agenda-drafting features, you can focus more on meaningful work and less on logistics.

Microsoft

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel: The New Start Experience That Eases Spreadsheet Creation

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Chris McKay• November 19, 2024 • 2 min read

Users just need to describe what they want to create, and Copilot will suggest and refine templates, complete with headers, formulas, and visuals.

Microsoft Enterprise AI

Microsoft Announces 5 New AI Agents to Help with HR, Collaboration, and Project Management

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Chris McKay• November 19, 2024 • 2 min read

These new AI agents act as dedicated digital workers, handling everything from meeting notes to project management – potentially saving companies millions in operational costs.

Microsoft Enterprise AI

Microsoft Introduces New PowerPoint Copilot Tools to Make Presentation Creation Easier

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Chris McKay• November 19, 2024 • 2 min read

Microsoft is doubling down on AI to simplify day-to-day tasks, ensuring business users can focus more on delivering their message and less on formatting and manual editing.

Microsoft

Microsoft Updates Copilot Studio with Voice, Image Support, and Dev Tools

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Chris McKay• November 19, 2024 • 1 min read

The company is doubling down on empowering 'citizen developers' and code-first experts alike, bringing next-level integration, flexibility, and functionality to Copilot Studio.

Microsoft Cybersecurity

Microsoft Announces Zero Day Quest with $4M in Bug Bounties

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Chris McKay• November 19, 2024 • 2 min read

Microsoft's largest-ever bug bounty event underscores a growing focus on proactive security around AI system and cloud infrastructure, especially as both technologies become increasingly critical to business operations and more deeply integrated into our daily lives.

Microsoft Quantum Computing

Microsoft Announces Breakthrough in Reliable Quantum Computing

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Chris McKay• November 19, 2024 • 3 min read

The companies achieved a record 24 logical qubits that can detect and correct errors. This represents the largest number of error-corrected qubits demonstrated to date across all quantum computing platforms.

Microsoft Japan

Microsoft Launches First AI Research Lab in Japan, Focusing on Robotics and Society

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Chris McKay• November 18, 2024 • 2 min read

The lab's mission isn't just about advancing technology; it's also about talent development. Microsoft Research Asia Tokyo plans to run joint research initiatives, offer internships, and host visiting scholars.

Microsoft

Microsoft and NASA Built Earth Copilot to Democratize Access to Satellite Data

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Chris McKay• November 14, 2024 • 2 min read

The AI assistant could dramatically simplify access to NASA's vast collection of Earth science data - from wildfire patterns to climate change trends - making it available to people beyond just scientists and researchers

Microsoft

You Can Now Generate Themes for Outlook with AI

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Chris McKay• November 8, 2024 • 1 min read

Microsoft is aiming to make digital workspaces feel more personal and welcoming, especially in apps used daily, like Outlook.

Microsoft Startups AI Policy

Microsoft and a16z Propose Joint Public Policy Ideas for AI Startups

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Chris McKay• November 2, 2024 • 3 min read

The challenge lies in implementation. The choice isn't between regulation and no regulation – it's between smart, innovation-enabling oversight and bureaucratic obstacles that could cede America's technological leadership to competitors.

Microsoft OpenAI Media & Entertainment

Microsoft and OpenAI Launch $10M Program to Bring AI Tools to Local Newsrooms

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Chris McKay• October 22, 2024 • 1 min read

The first round of recipients includes Chicago Public Media, The Minnesota Star Tribune, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Seattle Times.

Microsoft

A First Look at Creating Autonomous AI Agents With Microsoft's Copilot Studio

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Chris McKay• October 21, 2024 • 2 min read

The company envisions organizations running on what it calls "AI-first business processes," where every department has multiple agents handling routine tasks while employees focus on strategic work.

Microsoft

Microsoft Expands Collaboration with Be My Eyes to Improve Accessible AI

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Chris McKay• October 17, 2024 • 2 min read

Be My Eyes will provide Microsoft with a unique video dataset featuring real-world scenarios faced by blind and low-vision individuals, including challenging lighting conditions and uncommon objects.

OpenAI Microsoft

Microsoft AI Heavyweight Sebastien Bubeck Joins OpenAI

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Chris McKay• October 14, 2024 • 1 min read

A Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement that he had "decided to leave Microsoft to further his work toward developing" artificial general intelligence

Microsoft Healthcare

Microsoft Announces AI Agents for Healthcare in Copilot Studio to Ease Clinical Workloads

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Chris McKay• October 11, 2024 • 2 min read

These AI agents can handle a range of healthcare duties, from scheduling appointments to matching patients with clinical trials.

Microsoft Healthcare

Microsoft Adds 3 New Multimodal Medical Imaging AI Models to Azure

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Chris McKay• October 10, 2024 • 2 min read

These models, developed in collaboration with partners like Providence Healthcare and digital pathology company, Paige.ai, offer a range of functionalities to enhance medical imaging processes.

Microsoft

Microsoft Unveils Major OneDrive Upgrades, Brings Copilot to All Commercial Users

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Chris McKay• October 8, 2024 • 1 min read

Copilot agents can now be created by users to automate repetitive tasks and provide quick access to information across multiple files and folders.

Microsoft

Microsoft Unveils New Personal Copilot AI Companion

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Chris McKay• October 1, 2024 • 2 min read

You’ll notice a cleaner, simpler, and warmer user interface, designed to be more engaging and responsive. The focus is on giving you shorter, faster answers to keep you in the flow of your day.

Microsoft

Microsoft Announced new AI-Powered Features for Copilot+ PCs and Windows 11

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Chris McKay• October 1, 2024 • 2 min read

The updates, available starting this holiday season, are all about making your PC smarter, faster, and more secure, putting the full power of AI right at your fingertips.

Microsoft UAE

Microsoft Expands Global Engineering Footprint to UAE

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Chris McKay• September 24, 2024 • 2 min read

The Abu Dhabi facility joins Microsoft's network of development centers worldwide, aiming to create cutting-edge technologies that will be integrated into the company's global solutions.

Microsoft

Microsoft Launches New Correction Capability to Reduce AI Hallucinations

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Chris McKay• September 24, 2024 • 1 min read

The new correction feature works by first detecting ungrounded content using connected grounding documents. When an inaccuracy is identified, it triggers a request to the AI model for correction.

Microsoft

Microsoft Commits $1.3 Billion to Invest in AI and Cloud in Mexico

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Chris McKay• September 24, 2024 • 2 min read

The company aims to reach five million Mexicans and support 30,000 SMBs within the three-year period.

Microsoft AI Infrastructure

Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant to Reopen, Powering Microsoft Data Centers

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Chris McKay• September 20, 2024 • 2 min read

Microsoft has committed to a 20-year power purchase agreement, securing all of the plant's output to fuel its expanding data center operations across the Midwest and East Coast.