Microsoft is reportedly considering adding OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology to its popular office software, including Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Users of Microsoft 365, previously known as Office, may soon be able to use the software to generate text with simple prompts, an unnamed source tells The Information.
This move has the potential to improve efficiency and productivity by allowing users to perform tasks more quickly and accurately.
One of the main features of OpenAI’s chatbot technology is its ability to assist users with language processing.
For example, in Microsoft Word, ChatGPT could help users write more accurately and with fewer errors by suggesting alternative words and phrases as they type.
It could also summarize long documents and highlight key points, making it easier for users to understand and analyze information.
Microsoft could employ ChatGPT in Outlook to write replies to emails or summarize email threads.
It sounds like a boon to productivity. However, incorporating ChatGPT into Microsoft software presents several challenges and concerns.
Microsoft’s engineers and researchers have been working on developing tailored AI tools for writing emails and documents for more than a year, according to the report. They achieve this by using OpenAI’s machine-learning models on customers’ private data.
Engineers are said to be figuring out ways to train the models using customer data without any of it being exposed to other customers or used for nefarious purposes.
They’re also aiming to reduce errors, potentially driving consumers away from Microsoft’s popular software.
Microsoft employees tell The Information the company has bold plans for using AI to enhance its already robust productivity applications.
Sources say Microsoft is working on incorporating OpenAI’s language-understanding model, GPT, to offer more effective search results when Outlook customers search for information in their inboxes.
For instance, it may allow customers to search for emails using prompts rather than typing in the exact words from the email.
Employing ChatGPT to return search results in Outlook could be an early look at how Microsoft will incorporate the technology into Bing.
Last week, The Information reported Microsoft plans to enhance its Bing search engine with artificial intelligence from ChatGPT in an update launching as early as March.
There is no timeline for when Microsoft may update its productivity software with OpenAI’s chatbot technology.
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