In term of technology, a day is a day. But a week is like a year. Without something to prove, a month is like an eternity.
The AI field was dull and quiet, and the buzz it created mostly happened within its own field, and rarely reach far beyond its own audience. But when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT as a AI chatbot tool, things escalated very quickly.
This is because the AI is able to do a wide range of tasks, including writing poetry, technical papers, novels, and essays.
Since then, tech companies are moving fast to add generative AI capabilities to their respective products.
And this time, Microsoft, Google and Salesforce have announced AI tools to enhance their products.
Discover a new way of working with Microsoft 365 Copilot—next-generation AI capabilities embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day. Learn more: https://t.co/fqTtN1tRVQ pic.twitter.com/gNjCQfGkdz
— Microsoft 365 (@Microsoft365) March 16, 2023
First of, in a blog post, Microsoft announced Office 365 Copilot, which adds OpenAI’s GPT-4 language technology to productivity applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Viva, Power Platform, and more.
Copilot incorporates OpenAI's large language model with data in Microsoft Graph, which includes calendar info, emails, chats, documents, and meetings.
All the Office 365 apps shall feature the AI-powered Business Chat tool.
"Copilot combines the power of large language models with your data and apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet," said Microsoft in another website post.
Through ChatGPT's natural language processing, the AI will "radically transform how computers help us think, plan and act," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in a LinkedIn post.
Nadella even confidently called the launch of Office 365 Copilot as the "start of a new era of computing."
"With this next generation of AI, we’re moving from autopilot to Copilot."
At this time, Microsoft, as one of the main backers of OpenAI, has undoubtedly won the AI-boosted search engine race, pulling ahead of Google.
After integrating ChatGPT to Bing on mobile, and bringing ChatGPT integration to Windows 11, it's focus has shifted toward putting AI into more of its apps.
As for Google, the tech giant is also adding generative AI capabilities to its Workspace platform, including Search, Maps, Gmail, and Docs.
What this technology does, is allowing users to It will let a select sample of testers try the AI writing features in Docs and Gmail. Then Google will launch the tools more broadly to consumers and businesses.
"We know from our deep experience in AI and productivity that building features with AI requires great care, thoughtful experimentation, and many iterations driven by user feedback," said Johanna Voolich Wright, vice president of product for Google Workspace, in a blog post.
"We do all this while building safeguards against abuse, protecting the privacy of user data and respecting customer controls for data governance."
Lastly, Salesforce is also enhancing its CRM, Slack and Tableau with AI capabilities.
Salesforce announced in its own website post, that its Einstein GPT is bringing generative AI to its Customer 360 CRM tool.
Here, Einstein GPT incorporates OpenAI's technology to help users in sales, service, marketing, commerce, and IT with AI-generated content.
The AI can also help users draw data from partners and real-time data from the Salesforce Sales Cloud. Users can rely on Einstein GPT to write emails, create notes, write auto-generalized personalized interactions, schedule meetings, easing workflows, and more.
"The world is experiencing one of the most profound technological shifts with the rise of real-time technologies and generative AI," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement.
"This comes at a pivotal moment as every company is focused on connecting with their customers in more intelligent, automated and personalized ways."
It's not only that the tech companies are piggybacking the hype generated by ChatGPT, because many have seen how this AI can create opportunities, and competitive advantage.
And with tech companies racing to being their own generative AIs, it's certain that in the future, the technology will become extremely common that productivity can be hindered without it.