Madhya Pradesh has secured investment proposals worth INR 3,200 crore in a single day during an interactive session held in Bengaluru on August 7-8, 2024. The event, organised by Invest Madhya Pradesh, drew over 500 participants, including leading industrialists and investors from the IT, textiles, aerospace, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Among the significant proposals, Google Cloud announced plans to establish a startup hub and Center of Excellence in the state. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav shared that these initiatives aim to enhance the local skilled workforce. 

Meanwhile, chip giant NVIDIA suggested creating a blueprint to transform Madhya Pradesh into the “Intelligence Capital of India.”

The session also saw participation from more than 15 international diplomatic missions and major companies like Infosys, Cognizant, and TCS, further solidifying Madhya Pradesh’s reputation as a prime investment destination.

Chief Minister Yadav highlighted that the proposals could generate approximately 7,000 new jobs in the state, providing a substantial boost to the local economy.

“Discussions were held with these companies regarding the development of information technology in Madhya Pradesh and their future plans, and I am hopeful that with the kind of positive response that we have got, we will witness many IT companies setting up their campuses in Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

In February, Google had signed an MoU with the Maharashtra government to advance scalable AI solutions in sectors like agriculture and healthcare. The recent proposals in Madhya Pradesh signal a continued commitment from tech giants to invest in India’s technological growth.

The post Google, NVIDIA, and Microsoft to Invest INR 3,200 Crore in Madhya Pradesh appeared first on AIM.

Karya has partnered with Microsoft Research to conduct evaluation of large language models (LLMs). The project involved over 90,000 human evaluations of 30 models in 10 Indian languages, completed in under three weeks. This effort is one of the largest multilingual human evaluations of LLMs to date.

The evaluation addressed challenges such as linguistic diversity, benchmark contamination, and the incorporation of local cultural nuances. Karya engaged a broad community of workers representing the average Indian population to ensure a comprehensive assessment.

The evaluation results, including detailed leaderboards on model performance, are available in the published paper here. Karya’s services encompass various benchmarks, including linguistic acceptability, cultural sensitivity, and reasoning.

A presentation of Karya’s LLM Evaluation Services can be viewed here. The project is noted for its complexity, with Karya’s team successfully delivering accurate results.

Multi-Turn Evaluation: Karya workers assessed models using various multi-turn conversation benchmarks, including tasks such as recollection, expansion, refinement, and follow-ups. The evaluation measured model performance in perception, reasoning, and creativity.

Model Comparison: The evaluation also involved comparing multiple models against a common benchmark to determine their relative performance. This analysis aimed to identify the best-performing model for specific tasks.

The execution of this project was led by Jeevitha and included Bipin, Victor, Sakshi, Deepsikha, Swarup, Rizwan, Praveen, Hari, Iqbal, Rupal, Neha, Anand, Monali, Aishwarya, and Anushree. Karya aims to expand such high-complexity digital tasks, potentially increasing earning opportunities for workers and advancing pathways out of poverty.

Founded by Manu Chopra and Vivek Seshadri in 2021, Karya provides a variety of AI services, including generating high quality training data, multimodal data labelling and performing culturally sensitive language model evaluations. By offering industry-leading wages and investing in worker welfare, Karya is pioneering an equitable model in the AI data industry.

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A catastrophic software update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike on Friday sent shockwaves through the global tech ecosystem, causing widespread disruptions to airlines, banks, businesses, and healthcare providers. 

Speaking to AIM, Omer Grossman, chief information officer (CIO) at CyberArk, an information security company, called it one of the most significant cyber failures of 2024. “The damage to business processes at the global level is dramatic,” he said.

Excluding Microsoft, US Fortune 500 companies are said to face $5.4 billion in financial losses due to the Windows outage.

What Went Wrong?

In a blog post, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz attributed the widespread disruption to a “logic error” within a sensor configuration update released on July 19. This update caused Windows systems to crash, resulting in a “blue screen of death” for numerous devices.

While CrowdStrike swiftly released a fix, restoring full functionality is expected to take several days. “Due to the severity of the system crashes, affected devices require manual intervention to recover. This painstaking process, involving individual attention to each endpoint, is expected to take several days,” Omer said.

Realisation has Hit India

The outage significantly disrupted critical services in India. Flight operations were severely impacted, causing delays and affecting booking systems for major airlines such as IndiGo, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet. 

Additionally, payment systems and other essential services were affected.

Many airline operators had to turn to handwritten boarding passes to maintain operations. Akshay Kothari, a passenger turned to X, to show off his boarding pass, which was filled in using a blue pen.

The outage also forced many companies to look for ways to avoid single points of failure and are re-evaluating their cloud strategies to prevent any ‘blue screen of death’ incidents.

Sumit Rajan Srivastava, solution engineering director, CyberArk, said that in recent times, major Indian companies have started taking their safety seriously. 

“Earlier, Indian companies thought that cyber attacks are about the West, it’s about the banks, it’s about the financial institutions and won’t affect us. But now the manufacturing companies, the utilities companies, the hospitals, the pharma companies, they all now understand that they can be breached,” he said.

He also said that securing industrial control systems and preventing disruptions to critical infrastructure is a growing concern. The increasing number of interconnected devices expands the potential attack surface.

“As a result, organisations must implement a comprehensive security strategy that protects both digital and physical assets,” Shrivastava added.

Third-Party Problems

The incident has exposed the vulnerabilities of heavily interconnected systems and the potential consequences of even minor software errors. 

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology, the need for robust security measures and disaster recovery plans is paramount. 

Organisations heavily rely on third-party vendors for various services, from software development to supply chain management. “However, these dependencies introduce significant security risks. A breach at a third-party vendor can compromise the security of the entire ecosystem,” Srivastava said.

Need for Alternatives 

The outage has forced CIOs to question the resilience of their cloud environments and explore alternative strategies. 

In a recent interview, Abhishek Gupta, CIO at DishTV, said, “When an issue of such magnitude happens and causes such a big disruption, it is important and necessary to revisit your existing beliefs, decisions, and tradeoffs that went into arriving at the current architecture.”

The solution, according to Srivastava, is to have a multi-cloud environment.  “Until last year, a lot of companies went for one or two cloud [management systems]. Now, most of them have at least three,” he said.

“Earlier, it was all about IT security, securing the servers, and network devices. But now, the manufacturing organisations understand that if a breach happens in their plant, their entire plant can be shut down,” he added.

The post What CrowdStrike’s Global Microsoft Outage Means for India appeared first on AIM.

AI video generators are reaching a tipping point, and just after OpenAI’s Sora’s text-to-video prowess swept social media, a new challenger from China, Kling AI, is doing the same.

Both Kling and Sora use powerful technology to create videos that look incredibly real. For instance, Kling can make use of 3D reconstruction to create a video of a panda chowing down on ramen noodles, complete with all the wrinkles and fur details!

But the race doesn’t stop there. Luma AI, a California-based startup specialising in visual AI, has thrown its hat into the ring with Dream Machine. This new video generator utilises cutting-edge AI to create stunningly realistic visuals.

From animals engaging in hilariously human activities to surreal scenarios that defy logic, here are the Top 10 mind-blowing videos produced by AI.

Animals Enjoying Human Activities

The AI-generated videos are endearing and funny, from a kangaroo slurping up some udon to a panda gorging on a bowl of ramen. The degree of realism and detail is evidence of Kling’s powers and the advancements in AI. Thousands of people have reacted to and shared the videos from the post, which has since gone viral. Numerous people have also voiced their surprise at the concept’s inventiveness and the visuals’ high calibre.

Polar Bear’s Unexpected Adventures

A new video by Kling shows a polar bear doing things no polar bear has ever done. First, the bear is riding a mountain bike down a trail.  Next, the bear is in a Formula One car, racing at high speeds. We see the bear belly dancing in a sparkly outfit. Finally, the bear sings karaoke! This video is more than just funny. It shows how Kling can make unique and surprising videos.

AI Reveals Eye’s Hidden Beauty

The video shows an extreme close-up of a 24-year-old woman’s eye blinking, standing in Marrakech during magic hour. The cinematic film was made to look like it was shot in 70mm with depth of field and vivid colours. It was created using Luma AI’s Dream Machine.

This clip delves into the intricacies of the human eye, capturing its mesmerising colours. The AI algorithms make use of light refraction, intense colour, and slow zoom to create a realistic and captivating scene.

Canine Code Cracker

An internet video featuring a Labrador retriever using a computer has gone viral! With its paws flying across the keyboard, the dog appears serious, dressed in an oversized black hoodie. The screen light illuminates the dog’s face. It’s not clear what the dog is doing. Maybe it’s playing a game, or maybe it’s just typing randomly. The video doesn’t tell us, but it’s definitely unusual to see a dog using a computer like this! The video was entirely generated by Sora.

Animal Boxing Tournament:

Made by Kling user Lightning Kiki, this video shows a series of shots that were used to build up to an animal boxing tournament. The video shows a rabbit and a tiger in a boxing match with a crocodile as the match referee and cats as judges.  It is a part of Kling’s “real world Zootopia” strand.

Deepfakes and Reboots

The video, created by YouTuber EZRyderX47, is a fantastic illustration of deepfake technology’s artistic potential. This video overlays Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland’s features over those of Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox, giving us a realistic idea of what it may look like if the Avengers resurrect the beloved 1985 film Back to the Future.

Animated Mona Lisa

Microsoft unveiled the VASA-1, a new AI model that can virtually and flawlessly merge an audio clip of a speaker with a still image of a face. Researchers demonstrated how they animated the Mona Lisa to recite an amusing rap by actress Anne Hathaway in one demo film.

Celebrity Reunions

An approximately minute-long video of Hollywood stars embracing their younger selves was shared by a user on X. Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Eminem, Keanu Reeves, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Michael Jackson, Johnny Depp, and Harrison Ford were some of the stars included in the AI-generated video. The video was created using Kling AI.

AI Makes People Melt

The video is an assemblage of AI-generated gymnastics footage using Dream Machine. The shifts from one human shape to another are horrifying, yet curiously alluring, as sportsmen with four legs blend into themselves and their surroundings. It resembles staring into a funhouse mirror while high on psychedelics and mixed in with some glitchy digital artefacts.

Life-Like Animals Take Centre Stage

The next few videos, made from a series of shots rather than a single clip, were shared by the Kling team on YouTube. They feature life-like animals performing human tasks and activities, including a rabbit reading the newspaper, a monkey sipping coffee, a giraffe, a chimpanzee, and a fox participating in a bike race. The video was created by Kling AI.

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In an unexpected turn of events, a technical glitch in Microsoft’s systems has caused significant disruptions in the aviation sector worldwide. The issue has affected various aviation companies, leading to delays and inconvenience for passengers.

Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing service essential for various industries, including aviation, suffered an outage that led to significant operational issues.

The glitch has resulted in causing delays in flight schedules and leaving passengers stranded. 

Due to the outage affecting most airports, passengers were issued hand-written boarding passes. 

As the situation evolves the incident has highlighted the heavy reliance of the aviation industry on digital technology and cloud services. 

After Microsoft acknowledged the issue and stated that its engineers are working to resolve the problem, it announced that it had resolved its cloud services outage in the Central US region, which had caused the grounding and cancellation of numerous flights. 

Furthermore, users also lost the ability to access various 365 apps and services. 

The post Microsoft Tech Glitch Disrupts Aviation Services Globally, Mumbai and Delhi Airports Affected  appeared first on AIM.

A recent report by researchers at Microsoft Research in Bangalore has uncovered significant issues with current methods for compressing and quantisation of LLMs. 

The paper, titled “Accuracy is Not All You Need,” highlights that commonly used compression techniques, such as quantisation, can lead to changes in model behaviour that are not captured by traditional accuracy metrics.

The study by Abhinav Dutta, Sanjeev Krishnan, Nipun Kwatra, and Ramachandran Ramjee emphasises the importance of looking beyond accuracy when evaluating compressed models.

The researchers point out that while compressed models often maintain similar accuracy levels to their baseline counterparts, their behaviour can differ significantly. This phenomenon, referred to as “flips,” involves answers changing from correct to incorrect and vice versa, impacting the model’s reliability.

The researchers propose using distance metrics like KL-Divergence and the percentage of flips to better assess the impact of compression. These metrics provide a more nuanced view of how compression affects model outputs as perceived by end-users.

The research team conducted experiments using multiple LLMs, such as Llama2 chat and Yi chat, across various quantization techniques and datasets. They found that compressed models perform significantly worse in generative tasks, as evidenced by evaluations on the MT-Bench dataset.

Key Findings

The researchers acknowledge that predicting performance degradation in real-world applications remains challenging. They note that distance metrics may not always indicate visible degradation in downstream tasks.

They also added that compressed models often exhibit significant behavioural differences from their baseline versions, impacting user experience. The flips metric revealed that the proportion of answer changes is substantial, highlighting the limitations of accuracy as a sole performance indicator.

Moreover, in tasks requiring generative capabilities, compressed models underperformed compared to their baseline versions, underscoring the need for more comprehensive evaluation metrics.

The Microsoft Research study concludes that traditional accuracy metrics are insufficient for evaluating the quality of compressed LLMs. The introduction of distance metrics such as KL-Divergence and flips offers a more accurate assessment of model performance, capturing changes that affect end-users. 

The researchers argue that these metrics are essential for all optimisation methods that aim to minimise visible changes in model behaviour from a baseline. By adopting these metrics, the field of model optimisation and compression can progress more effectively, ensuring that compressed models meet user expectations and maintain high-quality outputs.

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In an effort to expand its footprint in India, generative AI powerhouse Microsoft has opened a new innovation hub in Bengaluru. Puneet Chandok, president of  Microsoft India and South Asia took to LinkedIn to share the news. 

“Embrace a culture of learning and innovation with our maker spaces for prototypes and special projects. Meet our senior architects, who will steer you through bespoke technical engagements focused on transformative business outcomes” added Chandok.

The company has over 20,000 employees across 10 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram, New Delhi, Noida, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

It has over 14 Microsoft Innovation Centres (MICs) across the country which are part of strategic partnerships with leading academic institutions and aim to grow tech skills. 

The company has announced several collaborations in the generative AI space in India over the last couple of months. For example, it teamed up with Skillsoft to create an AI training program for enterprises, leveraging Skillsoft’s AI Skill Accelerator to teach the use of Microsoft AI tools, including Copilot and Azure Open AI. 

Additionally, Indian IT giant Tech Mahindra is collaborating with Microsoft to implement Copilot for Microsoft 365 across 15 locations, aiming to improve efficiency for over 10,000 employees. Tech Mahindra will also use GitHub Copilot for 5,000 developers, expecting a 35-40% productivity boost.

Back in February of this year, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates visited the Microsoft India Development Center (IDC) in Hyderabad, a hub of innovation that he envisioned 25 years ago. He expressed his optimism for India’s unique potential in AI and the company’s strategic focus on harnessing the country’s talent for upcoming features in this space.

The company is partnering with Indian startup Sarvam AI, specialising in Indic LLMs. It is also set to upskill two million Indians in AI by 2025.

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Kevin Scott, CTO at Microsoft, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Shopify, the leading e-commerce platform. Scott announced the news on LinkedIn, where he served as Senior Vice President of Engineering and Operations for six years. He has been with Microsoft for eight years now.

In a conversation with Canada-based e-commerce giant Shopify, co-founder and CEO Tobias Lütke, Scott expressed his enthusiasm for joining the company’s board. “I’m very excited to be able to have the opportunity to work more closely with you all and with all of the folks at Shopify,” said Scott. 

This appointment brings together two tech giants, with Scott’s extensive experience in AI and cloud computing at Microsoft potentially benefiting Shopify’s e-commerce innovations. Scott’s background includes leadership roles at Google and AdMob, as well as his current position driving strategic, cross-company initiatives at Microsoft.

Scott’s move to Shopify’s board comes at a time when the e-commerce sector is rapidly evolving, with increasing focus on AI integration and enhanced user experiences. His expertise in large-scale technology infrastructure and AI could prove invaluable as Shopify continues to expand its services and global reach.

AI in Shopify

Shopify has been increasingly investing in bringing AI capabilities on their platform with their latest release being an AI “sidekick” chatbot. The sidekick serves as a support chatbot for merchants, assisting with tasks such as creating discount codes, generating store reports, and proposing blog post ideas.

“I think the role that Shopify plays on the internet is giving all of these wonderful entrepreneurs and business owners and makers and creators of all stripes a way to actually commercialise their work to be able to have a customer base and to deal with them in beautiful ways. It’s just, sort of extraordinary and very important,” said Scott. 

Interestingly, Bret Taylor, the current board of director at OpenAI has also served as a board member of Shopify. 

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LlamaIndex has released a notebook implementation of Microsoft’s GraphRAG, a sophisticated Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system that uses knowledge graphs to enhance LLMs. 

This integration aims to improve the accuracy and relevance of information retrieved by LLMs, making them more effective in generating coherent and contextually accurate responses.

By integrating with LlamaIndex, GraphRAG can be used to enhance AI models in various fields, including healthcare, finance, and legal, where precise information retrieval is crucial.

Integration with NebulaGraph 

The implementation leverages NebulaGraph, a popular graph database, to build and query the knowledge graph. 

This integration simplifies the process of setting up and using GraphRAG, making it accessible for various applications.

The notebook implementation includes step-by-step instructions for setting up a NebulaGraph cluster, creating a knowledge graph index, and building a GraphRAG query engine. This makes it easier for developers to get started with GraphRAG without needing deep expertise in graph databases or machine learning.

GraphRAG, Outperforms Traditional RAG

Jerry Liu, co-founder and CEO of LlamaIndex in a recent interview said that basic RAG systems can have primitive interfaces and poor quality understanding and planning, lack function calling or tool use and are stateless (with no memory).

“RAG was really just the beginning,” Liu said. Many core concepts of naive RAG are “kind of dumb” and make “very suboptimal decisions.”

In recent evaluations, GraphRAG demonstrated its ability to answer “global questions” that address the entire dataset, a task where naive RAG approaches often fail. 

By considering all input texts, GraphRAG’s community summaries provide more comprehensive and diverse answers. 

This method also uses a map-reduce approach, grouping community reports up to the LLM context window size, mapping the question across each group to create community answers, and reducing these into a final global answer.

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Microsoft researchers have developed SPREADSHEETLLM, a framework that enables LLMs to effectively process and analyse complex spreadsheet data. The new approach significantly improves performance on spreadsheet understanding tasks while dramatically reducing computational costs.

Key innovations of SPREADSHEETLLM include SHEETCOMPRESSOR, a novel encoding method that compresses spreadsheets by up to 96%, allowing LLMs to handle much larger datasets within token limits. It also features structural anchor extraction, which identifies key rows and columns that define table structures, preserving critical layout information. 

Inverted-index translation efficiently encodes cell contents and addresses to minimise redundancy, while data format-aware aggregation groups cells with similar formats to further reduce token usage.

In experiments, SPREADSHEETLLM achieved state-of-the-art results on spreadsheet table detection, outperforming previous methods by 12.3%. It also demonstrated strong capabilities on spreadsheet question-answering tasks.

The researchers tested SPREADSHEETLLM with various LLMs, including GPT-4, GPT-3.5, Llama 2, and others. Fine-tuned versions showed particular promise, with GPT-4 reaching an F1 score of 78.9% on table detection.

Beyond improving performance, SPREADSHEETLLM’s compression techniques reduced processing costs by 96% compared to standard encoding methods.

While some limitations remain, such as handling complex formatting, the framework represents a major step forward in applying LLMs to spreadsheet analysis. The researchers suggest it could enable more intelligent and efficient interactions with spreadsheet data across various applications.

Microsoft Upgrading 

Last year, Microsoft Excel introduced a public preview of Python integration, eliminating the need for additional software by bundling built-in connectors and power queries for Python. Similarly, without using third party apps, now the new spreadsheetLLM tool simplifies complex data analysis by leveraging large language models (LLMs), making it easier for users to handle intricate tasks.

Read the full paper here.

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Most AI products today are the result of data collected from diverse users, which can inherently contain biases. This calls for the need to ramp up efforts to mitigate these biases rather than attempting to overfit the data to preconceived notions. 

“We are trying to build products used by billions of users, [and] working on important technologies that will have a deep impact on society,” said Google head Sundar Pichai in an interview, addressing the dire need for inclusivity and diversity in the workplace. 

“A diverse workforce will help the company develop better products, and more importantly, tackle problems in society better,” he added.

Sandeep Sharma, assistant manager, GlobalLogic India, and an openly queer individual, agrees. “Organisations can foster inclusivity by establishing ally network groups and providing platforms to drive LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. Additionally, sensitisation programs for employees can be transformative,” Sharma told AIM in a recent conversation. 

For someone not comfortable discussing his sexuality and attending Pride events just as an ally, Sharma has come a long way. 

He is now actively involved with GlobalLogic’s DEI accelerator team, striving to create an inclusive environment for his LGBTQIA+ colleagues. He has been facilitating SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression) sensitisation sessions to help others understand the lives, experiences, and challenges faced by the LGBTQIA+ community better.

Previously, we have spoken about how allyship in the workplace helps familiarise the concept of understanding the non-binary nature of gender. This is where gender sensitisation programs, employee resource groups and Pride networking groups come into the picture for corporations. 

Big Tech’s Efforts

Big techs like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and NVIDIA, among others, recognised the importance of such programs long ago. 

“Inclusive teams that propagate and advance inclusive principles will have the deepest impact in building products designed for everyone,” said Satya Nadella, the chief executive officer of Microsoft, in a previous interview. 

For example, Apple’s Tim Cook, who is openly gay and has often spoken about the same, has had an LGBTQ-focused employee network called Pride@Apple since 1986. 

Similarly, Google established its first LGBTQ employee group, Gayglers, over 20 years ago, which has had a massive impact on steering the company in a more LGBTQ-inclusive direction. So does Microsoft. 

GlobalLogic is also one such company fostering D&I through several initiatives to support LGBTQIA+ employees, such as inclusive hiring practices, support groups, and awareness campaigns. According to Sharma, these initiatives have significantly impacted the work environment, creating a culture of acceptance and respect. 

Originally from Delhi, Sharma, a computer science engineer, has worked as a tech product owner in various Indian cities over the past seven years.

AI to Solve Inclusivity?

“Contrary to the common belief of tokenism and corporate rainbow-washing, I believe we’re moving in the right direction. While many organisations and brands might currently leverage Pride as a strategy, this undeniably starts the conversation,” he added.  

“This is especially crucial in countries where LGBTQIA+ community is still battling the fight against social stigma and basic rights. It is a long and demanding journey and while it may not be ideal today, progress has to begin somewhere.”  

However, the ever-evolving AI and analytics landscape holds the potential to drive LGBTQIA+ inclusivity in the coming years. For example, AI-powered language models can be trained to use more inclusive and gender-neutral language, helping normalise diverse identities in digital communication.

“With AI increasingly integrated into our daily lives. It mustn’t replicate societal bias. Data models trained predominantly on heteronormative information may exhibit harmful prejudices. To combat this, we must dismantle institutional barriers. 

“This includes the absence of gender-neutral or inclusive language, a lack of inclusive imagery, and the features that reflect LGBTQIA+ identities and experiences,” said Sharma. 

Interestingly, according to a McKinsey & Company report, companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 21% more likely to outperform on profitability. Additionally, organisations with more gender-diverse executive teams have a 27% likelihood of outperforming their peers on longer-term value creation. 

Challenges Remain

The inclusion of transgenders in the workforce still remains a challenge. Sharma advocates for infrastructural changes like gender-neutral washrooms and policies accommodating preferred names and pronouns for creating environments that empower non-binary and gender minorities in the workforce.

On the other hand, AI-driven health applications could be developed to address the specific medical needs of transgender individuals, improving access to personalised care. Additionally, AI can assist in content moderation on social media platforms, more effectively identifying and removing hate speech or discriminatory content targeting the community. 

“LGBTQIA+ isn’t just an abstract concept; it encompasses real people still fighting for social acceptance and basic rights” he added. 

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Indegene has announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft to empower global life sciences companies to scale up the adoption of purpose-built, enterprise-grade GenAI services, thereby driving faster innovation at scale.

Indegene and Microsoft have committed to developing resources in highly specialised and skilled medical and technology tools to co-innovate generative AI services and workflows across commercial, medical, regulatory, and clinical functions.  

Indegene counts 20 of the world’s top 20 biopharma companies among its clients.

”GenAI presents a once-in-a-decade opportunity for life sciences companies to modernize business processes and reimagine the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations throughout the value chain. Using GenAI, we’re closely working with many of our clients to solve specific business problems, with nearly 50 real-world use cases already in an advanced pilot stage”, Tarun Mathur, CTO, Indegene, said.

Some of the key use cases the strategic collaboration focuses on in the first phase, include:

• Content Super App: Using Azure OpenAI Service, the modular content value chain simplifies content creation and tagging for life sciences companies. This integrated approach offers a holistic view of the content value chain, enabling greater velocity, personalized content, and adoption of new conversation form factors. It also streamlines creative and video transformation while effectively engaging healthcare professionals (HCPs), patients and payers.
  
• Future-ready medical content value chain: Generative AI capabilities are revolutionizing the medical content value chain. From sourcing content from relevant literature articles to authoring core documents such as Clinical Study Reports (CSRs) and Protocols, Indegene’s solutions accelerate authoring processes and help ensure compliance across clinical and regulatory domains.
  
• Data Management and Analytics for Clinical Trials: Using Microsoft Fabric, Indegene’s solutions enhance the process of data ingestion and refinement, facilitate effortless reporting, and guarantee governance. This leads to proficient analytics, adherence to compliance, and nimbleness in business operations. It revolutionizes the way sales users work and provides a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

“According to a Microsoft-commissioned study conducted by IDC, a staggering 79% of healthcare organisations have now embraced AI. This demonstrates that the tangible business value of this transformation is indisputable. By seamlessly integrating Indegene’s domain knowledge with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Copilot, we stand at the forefront of advancing generative AI within the life sciences sector,” Alok Lall, chief operating officer, Microsoft India & South Asia, said.

The post Indegene & Microsoft Partner to Help Life Sciences Firms Scale GenAI Adoption appeared first on AIM.

Microsoft and Surface introduced the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever: Copilot+ PCs, available for pre-orders in India starting July 11th, 2024.

Powered by Snapdragon® X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors, Copilot+ PCs have the most powerful Neural Processing Units (NPUs) in the PC category today. With over 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS), these NPUs power new AI experiences to boost productivity and unleash creativity.

Available for pre-orders at retailers including Amazon, Croma, Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales, and select multi brand stores, customers can now experience groundbreaking performance and cutting-edge AI capabilities at an introductory price of INR 113, 900.

At the core of the Copilot+ PC experience lies a quantum leap in computing, with power, performance and breakthrough AI experiences that empower users to work smarter, create more, and achieve new levels of productivity.

“We see AI PCs as a transformative opportunity that can disrupt the PC market. With new advanced AI experiences integrated into the devices, it will enable users to do things they can’t on any other PC, helping them be more productive, creative and communicate more effectively,” Shruti Bhatia, Country Manager, Modern Work & Surface, India & South Asia, said.

The new Copilot+PC Surface devices are available for pre-orders starting July 11, 2024, via retailers including Amazon, Croma, Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales, and select multi-brand stores.

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Skillsoft announced that they have collaborated with Microsoft to develop a comprehensive generative AI (GenAI) skilling programme for enterprises.

Leveraging Skillsoft’s AI Skill Accelerator, the programme is designed to upskill organisations and their workforce to effectively use Microsoft AI — including Copilot and Azure Open AI — and Gen AI technology more broadly to drive improved business productivity and innovation.

“Generative AI brings limitless opportunity to organizations. We’re seeing this firsthand through Skillsoft’s internal adoption of Copilot for Microsoft 365 and its potential to enhance our efficiency, creativity, and ability to achieve key business objectives,” said Ron Hovsepian, Executive Chair, Skillsoft.

According to Skillsoft, its AI Skill Accelerator provides a blended learning experience, including on-demand courses, 1:1 and group coaching, live Instructor-Led Training (ILT), and hands-on practice labs.

Around 98% of learners participating in the initial pilot of the GenAI skilling programme reported being able to immediately apply the acquired knowledge and skills in their roles.

Designed to advance organisations and their talent through critical phases of AI maturity in as few as 90 days, the programme enables customers to:

·         Assess the current state of AI-related technology and leadership skills across the workforce through Skillsoft’s Skill Benchmarks;

·         Index skills to make data-driven decisions about where talent can drive strategic business outcomes with AI through Skillsoft’s dashboards;

·         Develop AIskills rapidly through emerging training methods powered by Microsoft’s Azure Open AI, such as Skillsoft’s AI-powered coach, CAISY; and

·         Reassess existing talent and skills gaps through post-training benchmarks to put the right people in the right roles at the right time.

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Tech Mahindra has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to enhance workplace experiences for its 1,200+ customers and over 10,000 employees across 15 locations through the adoption of Copilot for Microsoft 365. This partnership positions Tech Mahindra as a prominent Global Systems Integrator (GSI) in the realm of Copilot for Microsoft 365.

The collaboration aims to boost workforce efficiency and streamline processes using Microsoft’s trusted cloud platform and generative AI capabilities. Additionally, Tech Mahindra will deploy GitHub Copilot for 5,000 developers, anticipating a productivity increase of 35% to 40%.

Tech Mahindra is committed to empowering employees with AI tools to drive innovation, value, and sustainable growth. The organisation plans to extend the capabilities of Copilot with plugins to leverage multiple data sources and enhance creativity and productivity. The focus is on increasing efficiency, reducing effort, and improving quality and compliance across the board.

Mohit Joshi, CEO and Managing Director of Tech Mahindra, emphasised the transformative potential of this partnership, stating, “Our vision is to redefine the workplace experience by empowering every employee to excel and innovate using cutting-edge AI technology. We are not just adopting a tool; we are shaping the future of work for our employees and customers. The collaboration with Microsoft, and the introduction of Copilot for Microsoft 365 and GitHub Copilot also marks a significant stride in Tech Mahindra commitment to making AI accessible to everyone.”

As part of this initiative, Tech Mahindra has launched a dedicated Copilot practice to help customers unlock the full potential of AI tools. This includes workforce training for assessment and preparation, critical for integrating AI across all functions of an organisation. 

Tech Mahindra will offer comprehensive solutions to help customers assess, prepare, pilot, and adopt business solutions using Copilot for Microsoft 365, providing a scalable and personalised user experience.

Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Microsoft, remarked, “Our collaboration with Tech Mahindra will empower its employees with new generative AI capabilities to enhance workplace experiences and increase developer productivity through the adoption of Copilot for Microsoft 365 and GitHub Copilot. With a focus on driving AI innovation and skilling, Tech Mahindra is poised to deliver new solutions and greater value for its customers across industries.”

This collaboration aligns with Tech Mahindra’s ongoing efforts to enhance workforce productivity using GenAI tools. Recently, Tech Mahindra launched a unified workbench on Microsoft Fabric, designed to help organisations accelerate the adoption of Microsoft Fabric and create complex data workflows with ease.

The longstanding partnership between Microsoft and Tech Mahindra has also led to the development of industry-leading solutions such as:

• Generative AI-powered Enterprise Knowledge Search: Integrates Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Cognitive Search, and Azure Language understanding to enhance organisational knowledge.
• Green CodeRefiner: Transforms existing code into energy-efficient code, optimising emissions.
• SenTindra: A cloud-based virtual security operations centre developed on Microsoft Sentinel.
• COMPASS-Cloud Security Assessment and Global System Integrator solutions: Focused on fortifying security frameworks and data governance capabilities.

The post Tech Mahindra Partners with Microsoft to Transform Workplace Experiences Using Generative AI appeared first on AIM.

Microsoft has released GraphRAG, a graph-based approach to retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) that enables question-answering over private or previously unseen datasets. GraphRAG is now available on GitHub.

The tool offers more structured information retrieval and comprehensive response generation than traditional RAG approaches. Accompanying the GraphRAG code repository is a solution accelerator, providing an easy-to-use API experience hosted on Azure, deployable without coding.

GraphRAG employs a large language model (LLM) to automate the extraction of a knowledge graph from any collection of text documents. This graph-based data index can report on the semantic structure of the data prior to user queries by detecting “communities” of densely connected nodes in a hierarchical fashion. 

Each community summary describes its entities and their relationships, offering an overview of a dataset without needing to know specific questions in advance.

In recent evaluations, GraphRAG demonstrated its ability to answer “global questions” that address the entire dataset, a task where naive RAG approaches often fail. 

By considering all input texts, GraphRAG’s community summaries provide more comprehensive and diverse answers. This method uses a map-reduce approach, grouping community reports up to the LLM context window size, mapping the question across each group to create community answers, and reducing these into a final global answer.

Comparative studies using GPT-4 showed that GraphRAG outperforms naive RAG in comprehensiveness and diversity, with a 70–80% win rate. It also performed better than hierarchical source-text summarization at lower token costs. These results highlight GraphRAG’s efficiency in generating detailed and varied answers from large datasets.

GraphRAG’s potential applications extend to various fields requiring deep data insights. By making both GraphRAG and its solution accelerator publicly available, the developers aim to make graph-based RAG approaches accessible for users needing to understand data at a global level.

The post Microsoft Unveils GraphRAG, Outperforms Traditional RAG in Data Discovery  appeared first on AIM.

Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman said that it won’t be until GPT-6 in 2 years time that AI models will be able to follow instructions and take consistent action. 

“I think that it’s going to require not just one but two orders of magnitude more computation to train the models. So, we’re not looking at GPT-5 but more like GPT-6 scale models. I believe we’re talking about two years before we have systems that can truly take action,’ said Suleyman in a recent podcast.

He added that predicting actions is no different from predicting the next token of words. Citing an example, he explained that the model would be able to take multiple actions. He said that the model could make restaurant bookings for dinner by checking availability, consulting the calendar, and entering credit card details.

“When asking a model to complete a sequence of actions, like booking a restaurant, there are three key steps: checking availability in both calendars, ensuring the restaurant has availability, and signing in to book with credit card details,” he said. 

He further explained that the sequence of actions should be in the right order. “The model has to produce a perfect function call for each element and do so in sequence; it can’t be arbitrary. It’s like writing a four-page document in response to one question and that document must be exactly right, not approximate,” he said 

He added that it’s necessary for the models to call APIs with 99% accuracy. “The question is can it do it with 99% accuracy because if it does it 80% then you know one in five times it is getting it wrong it’s not usable for a consumer,” he said.

Further, he added that humans are on the path to autonomous AI agents, about which he is a little skeptical and worried. “We’re on a path towards fully autonomous, and I think that’s actually quite undesirable. I think fully autonomous is quite dangerous, and you know I got a lot of stick after my TED talk because I said that the autonomous capability was dangerous and so on, and that’s one that should be regulated,” he said.

OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said in an interview that the next generation of GPT will be ‘PhD-level’ compared to GPT-3 (toddler) and GPT-4 (high school). She also said the next model will be released in a year and a half.

In March Suleyman, former co-founder and head of DeepMind and Inflection AI, was appointed as the CEO of Microsoft AI. He leads the consumer AI products which includes Copilot, Bing, and Edge at Microsoft.

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Zoom CEO Eric Yuan recently shared an innovative vision of an AI clone that can attend office meetings on your behalf. According to Yuan, leveraging AI’s power in video conferencing can reduce the time spent in meetings.

“I can send a digital version of myself to join the meeting, freeing me up to hit the beach,” Yuan shared with The Verge.

“There’s no need for five or six Zoom calls a day when AI can take care of that for you,” he added. 

Zoom has already launched Zoom Workplace, an AI-powered collaboration platform designed to enhance teamwork and productivity. The platform offers 40 new features like updates to Zoom AI Companion for Zoom Phone, Team Chat, Events, Contact Center, and the Ask AI Companion feature. 

Speaking of AI Companion, it is a generative AI assistant seamlessly integrated across its platform. It boosts productivity, fosters better connections and collaboration among team members, and aids users in improving their skills. 

Importantly, Zoom has emphasised its commitment to responsible AI. According to the video communications platform, they ensure that none of your audio, video, chat, screen sharing, attachments, or other communication-like customer content will be used to train Zoom’s or third-party AI models. 

Users Raise Questions 

Earlier in 2022, a similar project was presented on Shark Tank US. AI productivity platform Beulr enables a person to be at two places simultaneously. American businessman Mark Cuban commented on the model, saying, “If you want to succeed in this space, you must have a deep understanding of AI.”

As expected, the shift from AI co-pilots towards AI ‘autopilots’ has raised some concerns. Leaders like Henry Ajder, founder of Latent Space have questioned whether an AI avatar can truly make decisions “as you” and how such avatars would handle the vast array of personal data needed to act authentically in various contexts. 

There’s also scepticism about how colleagues would interact with these avatars in a way that maintains continuity with real human interactions. 

One user commented on X, “Creating clones that attend meetings for you will cause people to stop having meetings, thereby rendering these clones useless. Meetings should be there to get input from your expertise. Your clone can’t do that. And if it can, they don’t need you, do they?”

Also, now the usage of video messaging platforms is declining. Atlassian’s recent acquisition of video messaging firm Loom for $975 million, a significant drop from its 2021 valuation of $ 1.5 billion, highlights the market trend. 

Once experiencing a pandemic-driven boom with app usage soaring to 21 times pre-COVID levels, video conferencing platforms are now losing their appeal. 

What Others are Doing?

The launch of the Apple Vision Pro (AVP) this year has once again changed the way we communicate and how media integrates into our interactions. Some believe AVP is the first hardware to seamlessly merge the physical and digital worlds for both entertainment and practical purposes. 

The AVP and similar devices are set to profoundly impact our communication, enabling 3D video calls, playback of real-life “memories”, and the sharing of immersive experiences.

Further, leaders including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, are of the view that AI systems could replace “senior employees” and “project managers”. 

At Google I/O, the AI Teammate, powered by Gemini, was unveiled with the promise of alleviating workloads by automating routine tasks and facilitating team communications. Integrated into Gmail’s mobile app, Gemini for Workspace streamlines email management through summarisation and Contextual Smart Reply suggestions. 

ChatGPT’s desktop app, available to both free and paid users, offers seamless integration into users’ workflow, further exemplifying the trend of AI co-pilots enhancing productivity across different platforms and applications. 

In 2023, Meta announced a new feature allowing users to use their avatars for answering and making video calls on Instagram and Messenger. According to the company, this functionality enables users to participate in video calls even when they’re not camera-ready. 

The result is an animated video call where you can interact without actually seeing each other. 

What’s Next?

As tech giants roll out AI features for the workplace, startups are also joining the race. A UK-based startup Artisan AI is on a mission to create advanced human-like digital workers called Artisans. 

So far, they have released Ava, a sales representative for Artisan. Ava operates as a business development representative (BDR) who streamlines the entire outbound sales process, requiring only a brief 10-minute conversation for setup.

Well, in today’s rapidly evolving landscape, AI’s ability to understand emotions is emerging as a powerful asset rather than a cause of concern. Despite initial reservations regarding privacy, these AI systems can significantly enhance employee well-being. 

So, maybe it’s time to be friends with AI.

The post Skip the Office Meetings, Let AI Take Over appeared first on AIM.

Recently, a group of Israeli researchers were able to create and publish a malicious VSCode extension in 30 minutes. Surprisingly, the extension was trending, and had 100+ downloads within the first 24 hours, shockingly exposing the vulnerability of the platform. 

Built with Flaws 

The experiment showcased that over 1,280 extensions had malicious dependencies packaged in them with a combined total of 229 million installations. Also, there were 87 extensions that attempted to read the /etc/passwd file on the host system.

Amit Assaraf, the co-founder of real estate investing app Landa, and one of the Israeli researchers who experimented to expose the flaw, said, “Unlike Google Chrome extensions, VSCode extensions are practically apps/executables running on your machine with zero limitations on what they can do on the host.

“This means extensions pose a threat to spawn child processes, system calls or even import any NodeJS package they’d like.”

In the experiment conducted by Assaraf and his team members Itay Kruk, and Idan Dardikman, it was found that 2,304 extensions used another publisher’s GitHub repo as their official listed repository. This means you have no way to tell if the code of your extension and the linked GitHub repository are the same. 

A major flaw in the popular open-source code editor VSCode is that extensions are not sandboxed. Though there’s a provision for sandboxing code, it is not applicable for extensions. 

Since extensions are not sandboxed, they can access anything inside the IDE and execute anything on the host machine without the developer receiving any feedback.

Apart from sandboxing, VSCode also lacks permission management. You will find multiple feature requests to add permission manager in VSCode, similar to what we have in our smartphones to know that is being accessed by extensions. 

This way, a theme extension that is built to change colours of IDE, may execute code and read or write files without any visibility or explicit authorisation from the user.

Auto Update of Extension

VSCode extensions automatically update to the latest version behind the scenes. This means any developer can initially create an extension without any malicious intent and later update the extension where he can introduce the malicious code. 

The same happened with xz utility, which was safe for years and later found to have a backdoor.

$5 to Verify VSCode Extension

Extension verification allows extension authors to verify the ownership of a domain to establish their authenticity and credibility, with the verified domain displayed alongside their name.

Isidor Nikolic, a senior product manager at Microsoft, VS Code, mentions that extension authors can become verified by checking the ownership of an eligible domain associated with your brand or identity.

Interestingly, to verify your extension, all you have to do is get a domain for your extension (which usually costs around $5) and soon you’ll receive a badge from VSCode suggesting that your extension is verified.

A GitHub user critiqued the process, calling the process for verification badge as totally useless and misleading. “The verified blue check mark merely means that whoever the publisher is has proven the ownership of a domain. And that means any domain. In reality, a publisher could buy any domain and register it to get that verified check mark,” he said.

Sure, there are manual steps involved in the verification process but these are not rock solid. You can use a different name while applying for verification and as soon as you get verified, it can be changed to look exactly like the original name of the extension.

“Security is not a high priority for Microsoft as they want as many extensions on their marketplace as possible,” the Israeli researcher also mentioned further.

Solutions to Navigate

Vignesh Rajan, a lead engineer at GenAI startup MachineHack, suggested, “You may use VSCode but with as few extensions as possible to minimise the risk. If necessary, a developer should do a thorough research on which extension is official and can be trusted before installation.”

By nature, VSCode heavily relies on extensions to enhance its functionality. It is a bare-bone IDE where developers can install extensions of their choice to get the job done. 

You may also switch to closed-source IDE such as IntelliJ. A user while praising IntelliJ for Java development mentioned that “VS Code is not only unsuitable (still) for larger enterprise-level projects, it is also less reliable, responsive and stable than IntelliJ.”

On November 18, 2015, the source code of VS Code was released under the MIT License and made available on GitHub. The idea was to create a lightweight platform powered by extension and it was an instant success.

The post Just How Easy is it to Publish Malicious Extension on VSCode? appeared first on AIM.

Bengaluru-based startup rampp.ai announced on Thursday that they had successfully bagged angel funding of USD $500,000.

The startup, which is currently powered by OpenAI and partnered with Microsoft, founded the RADI Navigator Platform. The platform helps deliver contextual and customised insights to enterprises in order to allow them to better strategise across business domains and functionalities.

The company was founded by tech entrepreneurs Ajay Agrawal and Huzefa Saifee in 2023. This is the fourth such venture by the duo, in which they leverage technology to provide highly tailored business solutions to organisations.

“We see early investor support as a validation of our core strategy to leverage GenAI for tackling transformative challenges. Constant market & technology shifts, coupled with external confounding factors, make enterprise-wide transformation daunting, and our solution provides leaders with crucial insights to tread with confidence,” said Agrawal, who is also the CEO of the startup.

According to the company, the funding has come from a group of seasoned executives and investors, a majority of whom come from India and North America.

In particular, they target companies that are aiming to grow and pivot, allowing rampp.ai to help them leverage AI to navigate these intricacies. “This results in agile adaptation and scalable pivoting with measurable outcomes, no matter the distinct challenges a business faces,” the company said.

Termed as a “GenAI-based enterprise-grade business transformation solutions” provider, the company’s major product is the RADI Navigator Platform.

Short for rampp.ai Artificial Digital Intelligence, the platform makes use of a deep industry and technology knowledge base to create an effective roadmap for companies in real time. This includes incorporating stakeholder inputs and offering tools to ensure that a business can accelerate its processes.

While not much is known about the capacity of the startup that has partnered with OpenAI and Microsoft, this is not the first time that either major company has partnered with smaller startups. However, a partnership with a Bengaluru-based startup is particularly interesting as OpenAI has started to put more focus on its operations in India.

For one, the company only recently hired its first India-based employee. Further, they are also hoping to establish a local team in the country.

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Dubai is emerging as a prominent global hub for AI. In a pioneering initiative, the Gulf metropolis has committed to training one million individuals in AI skills over the next three years, marking the world’s first program of its kind. 

‘One Million AI Prompters’, is a prompt engineering initiative that prepares expertise and competencies in AI prompt engineering.

“We want to be the most future-ready city and continue to prepare for the AI era by developing expertise and skills that support global technological change and put Dubai at the forefront of innovation,” said the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at the launch of the ‘One Million AI Prompters’ initiative in Dubai. 

The United Arab Emirates, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi as its key emirates, is focusing on transitioning from an oil-dependent state to a leading AI power. By 2031, the UAE aims to have 40% of its GDP generated through AI. 

To achieve the same, the nation is investing billions of dollars and has appointed the world’s first Minister of State for AI. 

Further, it is attracting scientists to the Gulf and is heavily supporting startups. 

“We want to show people that there is a full spectrum of use cases. Whether you are technical or non-technical, you can utilise these tools,” said Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for AI, digital economy, and remote work applications. 

UAE on the AI Global Map

The UAE is increasingly being sought after as a strategic partner by global tech giants. Microsoft, Google, and IBM participated in the first championship with workshops, and other companies and countries have also shown interest in AI collaborations. 

Since 2019, the UAE has had an AI university, and the sovereign wealth fund Mubadala has established a $100 billion AI fund. 

Recently, Microsoft invested $1.5 billion in G42, the leading UAE-based AI technology holding company. The investment aims to fortify the partnership between G42 and Microsoft, focusing on expanding AI technologies and skilling initiatives in the UAE and across the globe. 

Under this collaboration, G42 will run its AI applications and services on Microsoft Azure, facilitating the delivery of advanced AI solutions to global public sector clients and large enterprises. 

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Building on the success of VALL-E, Microsoft has introduced VALL-E 2, a neural codec language model designed to achieve human-level performance in zero-shot text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis. 

This model rolls out two new features called Repetition Aware Sampling and Grouped Code Modeling to improve the stability and efficiency of the speech synthesis process.

Let’s take a look at the new methods. 

1. Repetition Aware Sampling: This method refines the traditional nucleus sampling by considering token repetition in the decoding history to improve stability and prevent the infinite loop issues encountered in earlier models.
2. Grouped Code Modeling: This technique organises codec codes into groups to reduce sequence length, thereby speeding up inference and addressing the challenges associated with long sequence modelling.

These innovations enable VALL-E 2 to synthesise speech with high accuracy and naturalness, even for complex sentences. The model requires only simple speech-transcription pair data for training, simplifying the data collection and processing.

The model has been evaluated on the LibriSpeech and VCTK datasets, demonstrating superior performance in speech robustness, naturalness, and speaker similarity compared to previous systems. It is the first model to achieve human parity on these benchmarks, producing high-quality speech for complex and repetitive sentences.

Read the full paper here. 

What Makes VALL-E 2 Better

In January of 2023, the company had come up with VALL-E which demonstrated in-context learning capabilities in zero-shot scenarios after being pre-trained on 60,000 hours of English speech data.

However, it faced issues with stability and efficiency. VALL-E relied on random sampling, which could lead to unstable outputs, and its autoregressive architecture resulted in slow inference speeds. 

Follow-up works have tried to address these problems by leveraging text-speech alignment information and non-autoregressive methods, but these approaches introduced new complexities and limitations.

The capabilities of VALL-E 2 can be particularly beneficial for generating speech for individuals with speech impairments, such as those with aphasia or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 

While the new model has significant potential, it also carries risks of misuse, such as voice spoofing or impersonation. The model assumes user consent for voice synthesis. In real-world applications, it should include protocols for speaker approval and detection of synthesised speech to prevent abuse.

The post Microsoft Rolls Out VALL-E 2, Attains Human-Level Speech Synthesis appeared first on AIM.

At the SAP Sapphire conference yesterday, the ERP conglomerate announced a major collaboration with Microsoft to integrate its generative AI assistant Joule into Microsoft 365. 

This integration is in an effort to improve business productivity by providing access to information across SAP and Microsoft applications. Additionally, the company is embedding Business AI across its enterprise cloud portfolio for better efficiency. 

The bi-directional integration between Joule and Microsoft Copilot will allow employees to perform tasks faster by accessing data and functionalities from both SAP and Microsoft 365 platforms.

For example, Joule can assist in booking flights through SAP Concur while simultaneously updating calendars in Microsoft Outlook, or it can help product managers coordinate business activities using SAP and Microsoft Teams data.

This collaboration addresses a common query about the necessity of multiple AI copilots by focusing on how different copilots can be used in tandem to streamline workflows.

“The integration of Microsoft Copilot and Joule brings together the power of generative AI to unlock greater employee productivity and will enable enterprises to accelerate customer-centric innovation in a unified experience.”  said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Cloud + AI at Microsoft. 

New Partnerships

Apart from Microsoft, SAP is also partnering with other AI players like Meta, Google Cloud and more. 

Google Cloud: Joint efforts to predict supply-chain risks and maintain inventory levels using Google’s Gemini models and SAP’s supply chain solutions.

Meta: Leveraging Meta Llama 3 for generating scripts that customise analytics applications in SAP Analytics Cloud.

Mistral AI: Adding new LLMs to SAP AI Core’s generative AI hub.

NVIDIA: Integrating NVIDIA’s AI models to support SAP solutions, such as RISE with SAP and the ABAP Cloud model, and simulating manufacturing products with Omniverse Cloud APIs.

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In 2023, when Storm Ciarán hit Northwest Europe, it left a trail of destruction. The storm’s intensity caught many off guard, exposing the limitations of current weather prediction models and highlighting the need for more accurate forecasting in the face of climate change.

In response to the limitations faced by advanced AI weather forecasting systems, a team of Microsoft researchers developed Aurora, an innovative AI foundational model designed to extract valuable insights from extensive atmospheric datasets. 

Aurora offers a new approach to weather forecasting with the potential to revolutionise predictions and mitigate the impacts of climatic change events. 

Trained on over a million hours of weather and climate simulations, Aurora boasts efficacy, enabling it to develop a comprehensive understanding of atmospheric dynamics. This allows the model to excel in various prediction tasks, even in regions with limited data or extreme weather conditions. 

Operating at a spatial resolution of 0.1°, which measures to about 11 km at the equator, Aurora captures intricate details of atmospheric processes with detail, providing unprecedented accuracy in operational forecasts while significantly reducing computational costs compared to traditional systems. 

Apart from accuracy and efficiency, Aurora stands out for its versatility. The model can forecast a wide array of atmospheric variables, including temperature, wind speed, air pollution levels, and concentrations of greenhouse gases. Its adaptable architecture is designed to handle diverse inputs and generate predictions at varying resolutions and levels of fidelity. 

Aurora’s architecture incorporates a flexible 3D Swim Transformer with perceiver-based encoders and decoders, enabling it to process and predict a range of atmospheric variables across spatial and pressure levels. 

Through pretraining on an extensive corpus of diverse data and fine-tuning for specific tasks, Aurora learns to capture intricate patterns and structures in the atmosphere, thereby excelling with limited training data during task-specific finetuning.

Meanwhile, Google has announced SEEDS, an AI technology aimed at enhancing weather forecasts through diffusion models. SEEDS also offers a decrease in computational expenses for producing ensemble forecasts and offers an enhanced depiction of rare or severe weather events. 

Some of the other recent weather-related developments by Google include MetNET-3 and GraphCast. 

MetNet-3 provides high-resolution forecasts up to 24 hours ahead, and GraphCast is a weather model capable of predicting conditions up to ten days in advance. 

The post Microsoft Introduces AI Weather Forecasting Model ‘Aurora’ appeared first on AIM.

Recently, on The Decoder podcast, when asked about OpenAI’s Sora potentially being trained on YouTube videos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai agreed it would be inappropriate and implied that such an action would violate YouTube’s terms and conditions.

“We don’t know the details. Our YouTube team is following up and trying to understand. We have terms and conditions and we would expect people to abide by those terms and conditions,” Pichai added.

In the backdrop of this, AIM looked at the ongoing development of big tech companies in building a responsible AI discussion. Google and Microsoft appear to be making significant strides in AI use and addressing ethical concerns. 

Pay the Dues Where Needed

Pichai, expressing his empathy towards creative content creators, said, “I can understand how emotional a transformation this is, and I think part of the reason you saw even, through Google I/O, when we’re working on products like music generation, we have really taken an approach by which we are working first to make tools for artists. So the way we have taken that approach in many of these cases is to put the creator community as much at the centre of it as possible.”

Exactly a month ago, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan confirmed that using YouTube videos for training AI models violates the platform’s terms of service. However, Mohan couldn’t be sure if OpenAI had indeed used YouTube videos.

“From a creator’s perspective, when they upload their hard work to our platform, they have certain expectations… Lots of creators have different sorts of licensing contracts in terms of their content on our platform,” Mohan said. 

Additionally, Pichai added that YouTube is essentially a licensing business where Google licenses a lot of content from creators and pays them back through its advertising model. He said the music industry has a huge licensing relationship with YouTube that is beneficial for both sides. 

Contrastingly, last year the New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging unauthorised use of its published work to train their AI, citing copyright issues related to its written content. 

However, OpenAI has since partnered with several news agencies to train its AI models using content from these organisations.

Similarly, Apple has licensed AI for training data from Shutterstock. The deal was closed between $25 million and $50 million for their entire image, video, and music database. 

Last year, Apple also began negotiations with major news and publishing organisations, seeking permission to use their material in developing generative AI systems.

Is Openness a Big Factor for Tech Companies?

In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati was asked about the kind of data the company had used in Sora. Murati’s response went viral, where she said, “Actually, I am not sure,” elaborating that they had stuck to “publicly available data and licensed data.”

With the new GPT-4o model, OpenAI has come under scrutiny due to allegations that it used actress Scarlett Johansson’s voice without permission for one of the model’s voices Sky. The voice was quickly pulled after users noted its striking similarity to Johansson’s voice in the 2013 film Her.

This highlights that OpenAI currently lacks full transparency regarding its training data, although they are gradually improving in this area.

As mentioned before, Open AI recently signed content and product partnership agreements with The Atlantic and Vox Media, helping the artificial intelligence firm boost and train its products.

Also, a few days ago, OpenAI gained access to News Corp publications, granting OpenAI’s chatbots access to new and archived material from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, MarketWatch, Barron’s, and others.

This time, closing the deal at $250 million marks a significant increase from just a few months ago, when OpenAI offered a mere $1 million for media licensing to train its extensive language models.

Meanwhile, Meta AI chief Yann LeCun recently confirmed that Meta has obtained $30 billion worth of NVIDIA GPUs to train their AI models. As the necessity of acquiring GPUs, the current AI activities of Meta are all about refining and training more advanced editions of their Llama-3 models.

In doing so, reports also suggest that Meta is considering paying news organisations to better train its AI language model to make its gen AI model including Meta AI more effective and competitive in the market of gen AI. 

On a similar note to Microsoft, AI startup Karya employs and pays over 30,000 rural Indians to create high-quality datasets in speech, text, images, and videos for training LLMs in 12 Indian languages.

AI Safety Policies So Far

Recently, OpenAI released its safety policy, which states, “We believe in a balanced, scientific approach where safety measures are integrated into the development process from the outset. This ensures that our AI systems are both innovative and reliable and can deliver benefits to society.” 

Similarly, Microsoft developed policies to support responsible capability scaling and collaborated with OpenAI on new frontier models using Azure’s supercomputing infrastructure. They also independently managed a safety review process and joined in OpenAI’s deployment of a safety board to review models, including GPT-4.

While Apple doesn’t have an AI safety policy as such, it seems like they are trying to correct this with the recent hiring plans. Also, Apple would likely partner with OpenAI in the next couple of weeks which can also spur a potential AI safety policy.  

At Google Cloud’s Next ’23, VP of Cloud Security Sunil Potti unveiled GCP’s security strategy built on leveraging Mandiant expertise, integrating security into innovations, and providing expertise across environments. 

This expands on the Security AI Workbench, introduced in April, with Google’s Sec-PaLM. Potti emphasised generative AI’s potential to tackle evolving threats, tool proliferation, and talent shortages, enhancing security operations in various applications.

Similarly, at AWS, their policy said, “We are committed to developing AI responsibly, taking a people-centric approach that prioritises education, science, and our customers, to integrate responsible AI across the end-to-end AI lifecycle.”

Meanwhile, the responsible AI policy at Meta focuses on five pillars – privacy and security, fairness and inclusion, robustness and safety, transparency and control, and accountability and governance. 

Open AI Has a Safety Board, What About the Others? 

Recently, OpenAI formed a safety and security committee responsible for making recommendations on critical safety and security decisions for all OpenAI projects. The discussions revolved around the likely early arrival of GPT-5 and how the committee will serve as a safety bunker for OpenAI. 

In addition to being led by OpenAI Board directors, the group will also include technical and policy experts to guide them. However, this announcement came right after OpenAI disbanded its super alignment team led by Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike.

Similarly, as part of safeguarding AI responsibility, Google has established the Responsible AI and Human-Centred Technology (RAI-HCT) team. This team is tasked with conducting research and developing methodologies, technologies, and best practices to ensure that AI systems are built responsibly.

Recently, a Bloomberg report stated that Microsoft has increased its Responsible AI team from 350 to 400 members to ensure the safety of its AI products. Microsoft also released its Responsible AI report, highlighting the creation of 30 responsible AI tools over the past year, the expansion of its Responsible AI team, and the mandate for teams developing generative AI applications to measure and map risks throughout the development cycle.

Additionally, Microsoft has its new member, Inflection AI and DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, to ethically steer its AI initiatives.

At last year’s AWS re:Invent conference, AWS’s responsible AI lead Diya Wynn highlighted the importance of using AI responsibly. She emphasised creating a culture of responsibility and a holistic approach to AI within organisations. 

She cited a recent survey that shows 77% of respondents are aware of responsible AI, and 59% see it as essential for business. However, younger leaders, aged 18 to 44, are more familiar with the concept than older leaders or those over 45, and only a quarter of respondents have begun developing a responsible AI strategy, with most lacking a dedicated team.

Similar to OpenAI, Meta dispersed its Responsible AI team last year, reallocating members to various groups within the company. However, unlike OpenAI, most team members transitioned to the generative AI sector to continue addressing AI-related harms and support responsible AI development across Meta.

Microsoft Leads The Way

Microsoft has developed extensive policies to support responsible AI, collaborating with OpenAI and independently managing a safety review process, putting them ahead in the race. However, companies like Meta and Google are doing equally as much to help ensure their AI tech is safe and ethically built. Soon, with the tide changing, most companies, including Apple and OpenAI, may strengthen their teams to ensure a responsible approach to AI.

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In a major boost to Sweden’s economy and AI landscape, Microsoft has unveiled its largest single investment in the country, which will be invested over the next two years.  

The investment of SEK 33.7 billion, or USD $3.2 billion, aims to accelerate Sweden’s adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), enhance workforce skills, and drive long-term economic growth.

Microsoft is significantly expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure by deploying 20,000 advanced GPUs across its data centers in Sandviken, Gävle, and Staffanstorp. 

In addition, the company said it is committed to upskilling 250,000 Swedes, representing 2.4% of the population, in AI over the next three years through a variety of technical training, vocational programmes, and expert development courses. 

To guide these skill development programs, Microsoft is establishing an AI Insights Council, which will bring together leaders from academia, business, and the public sector. Furthermore, the company is adhering to its AI Asset Principles and the newly unveiled Community Pledge, ensuring that AI innovation is conducted responsibly and has a positive impact on local communities.

“Our investment in Sweden is proof of our confidence in this nation, its government and its potential as a leading player in the AI era,” said Microsoft president Brad Smith. 

The tech giant’s commitment extends beyond technology, aiming to provide broad access to AI tools and skills for Sweden’s population and economy to thrive. 

Sustainability is a key priority, with Microsoft’s Swedish data centres powered by 100% fossil-free energy and innovative water conservation measures. The company has also invested in nearly 1,000 MW of renewable energy production in Sweden, including a hybrid wind and solar project expected to be operational by 2025.

With this massive investment, Microsoft aims to position Sweden as a global leader in AI innovation and technology, accelerating economic growth and fostering responsible progress in the AI era. 
This is one of many expanding foreign investments made by Microsoft in expanding countries’ AI and cloud infrastructure. Just a few months ago, Microsoft made investments of USD $1.7 billion in Indonesia over the next four years to bolster the country’s cloud and AI infrastructures, provide AI skilling opportunities for 840,000 people, and support the nation’s growing developer community.

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As India awaits the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a recent report from OpenAI reveals that Russia, China, Iran, and Israel have leveraged AI models to disseminate false information online.

As per the study, five operations were involved – two from Russia, one from China, one from Iran, and an Israeli political campaign management firm known as STOIC. These operations utilised AI-generated content, including text and images, in their efforts.

One of these campaigns, nicknamed Zero Zeno by STOIC, aimed to influence the 2024 Indian elections, according to OpenAI, the developers behind ChatGPT. However, these campaigns failed to reach a significant audience or drive engagement.

The study indicates that none of these networks achieved substantial real interactions, with OpenAI categorising their impact as below level 2 on a six-level “breakout scale” for assessing the effectiveness of influencer operations.

Responding to OpenAI’s findings, minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar labelled this a “dangerous threat” to democracy, criticising OpenAI for not alerting the public when the threat was initially detected in May.

Earlier reports from the Microsoft Threat Analysis Centre (MTAC) also highlighted China’s attempts to use AI-generated content to influence elections in various countries, including India, the US, and South Korea. Similar tactics were reportedly tested during Taiwan’s presidential elections.

Despite these revelations, political parties such as the BJP and Congress have acknowledged the use of AI tools for campaigning. Political strategists claim that AI has become a significant asset, with the BJP leading in GenAI utilisation for electoral purposes. The Congress, however, is using AI minimally or barely at all.

In a conversation with AIM on the status of AI integration in the 2024 elections, independent political campaigner and strategist Sagar Vishnoi pointed out that the BJP leads the way in employing AI to translate their messaging across various languages.

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Microsoft has introduced a new Copilot Telegram bot, allowing users to search, chat, and ask questions to an AI assistant for various purposes. 

Currently, in its beta phase, Copilot for Telegram offers its services for free to users on mobile or desktop, exclusively supporting text-based interactions.

How to Use Copilot for Telegram?

Getting started with Copilot for Telegram is simple. Users can access it through the Telegram desktop & mobile app, or via the Telegram web interface. Alternatively, they can search for Copilot by typing @CopilotOfficialBot in Telegram’s search bar.

Upon discovery, the bot will prompt users to provide their Telegram phone number to connect.

Microsoft has highlighted the Copilot Chatbot’s ability to deliver comprehensive responses, ranging from quick facts to in-depth research powered by Bing Search. It can further assist with travel plans, offer fitness guidance, provide entertainment updates, and more.

Copilot’s content generation is based on language patterns extracted from the internet. As a result, its responses may occasionally resemble existing online content, or it may generate similar responses for users with similar prompts.

Microsoft Copilot 

In September 2023, Microsoft launched Copilot, advertising it as your everyday AI companion. The company has highlighted that Copilot leverages web context, your work data, and real-time PC activities to deliver personalised support, all while prioritising users’ privacy and security.

The tool has now been integrated into several Microsoft offerings, including Windows 11, and Microsoft 365, as well as the web ecosystem with Edge and Bing, offering a simple and seamless experience. 

At Microsoft Build 2024, significant updates to Microsoft Copilot were unveiled, signalling a strategic shift towards enhancing employee self-service and productivity through advanced AI capabilities. 

The Copilot Studio introduces independent agent capabilities, allowing Copilots to act autonomously based on events, expanding their utility beyond just conversations.

Further, custom Copilots enable users to tailor AI assistants to specific roles and industries, offering enhanced information retrieval and contextual insights from SharePoint content.

Complementing these advancements, the introduction of Copilot+ PCs promises unparalleled computing power and AI integration, aiming to revolutionise user experiences and productivity on Windows platforms, emphasising Microsoft’s commitment to innovation in conversational AI and intelligent computing. 

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When it comes to healthcare, the challenge lies not only in ensuring the availability of Indic datasets to train AI models but also in safeguarding patient privacy and balancing innovation with ethical guidelines, particularly concerning bias and transparency. 

These complexities, clubbed with the diversity in India’s healthcare needs, have propelled tech giant Microsoft to craft AI solutions that resonate with local contexts, languages, and cultural nuances. 

“Our approach involves co-creating solutions with Indian healthcare providers and tailoring them to address these unique challenges,” Venkat Krishnan, executive director of public sector, healthcare, and education at Microsoft India, told AIM.

As a guiding principle for its AI initiatives in India, the company wants to democratise technology-powered healthcare accessible to all. 

The introduction of mixed reality devices, such as Microsoft HoloLens, has been a game-changer, particularly in Tier-2 and Tier-3 locations. “These devices allow clinicians to assist their peers during consultations and surgeries, irrespective of geographical boundaries,” Krishnan commented. 

However, Microsoft HoloLens competes with several advanced AR and VR models in this space like Google Glass, Magic Leap, Meta Oculus, Apple Vision Pro and more. 

Similarly, Krishnan stated that AI-powered chatbots are making a major impact in the field by providing accurate information, facilitating appointment bookings, and offering services in local languages, thus reaching the remotest of patients. 

The company works closely with healthcare providers and institutions to develop and implement customised solutions that address real-world needs. 

Additionally, Microsoft’s AI services are also automating operational and administrative tasks, such as documentation and managing Electronic Medical Records (EMR), which has reduced hospital costs and alleviated physician burnout. 

The company has partnered with Apollo Hospitals to develop AI algorithms to detect heart disease risks and improve treatment. 

Additionally, it has collaborated with the LV Prasad Eye Institute and other global partners on the Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare to predict outcomes and prevent visual impairments. 

The company also worked with the Telangana government to screen children’s vision and launched a mobile vision rehabilitation unit with Sankara Eye Hospital. Other projects include the 99 Dots technology for tuberculosis treatment adherence and various partnerships to enhance hospital management and data analysis through cloud solutions and AI​.

Microsoft Fabric for Smart Health Analytics

At Microsoft Build last week, the company introduced real-time intelligence in its AI-powered analytics platform, Microsoft Fabric, to provide a comprehensive SaaS solution, allowing customers to efficiently analyse and act on large-scale, and time-sensitive data. 

“The healthcare sector faces unique challenges: patients want convenient, personalised digital services, while the industry faces workforce burnout, rising costs, and health equity gaps. Hospitals create massive amounts of data (50 petabytes annually), but only 3% of it is effectively used,” said Krishnan.

Microsoft Fabric addresses these issues by unifying complex, siloed data using standards like FHIR and DICOM. It supports secure data access, analysis, and visualisation with tools like Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Machine Learning, and Power BI. 

These enable healthcare organisations to gain actionable insights, improve efficiency, and enhance patient care.

The Heart of Microsoft’s Healthcare Focus

The global AI healthcare market, valued at $16.3 billion in 2022, is projected to grow at a 40.2% annual rate, reaching $173.55 billion by 2029. Apart from Microsoft, Google, Apple, and AWS are leading this charge.

At NVIDIA GTC this year, the company expanded its longstanding collaboration with Microsoft to include new integrations. This would leverage the former’s generative AI stack and Omniverse technologies across Microsoft Azure, Azure AI services, Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft 365.

Microsoft, along with Epic, announced expanding their collaboration to integrate generative AI into healthcare. This will combine Azure OpenAI Service with Epic’s EHR software, building on their existing partnership to run Epic environments on Microsoft Azure cloud​.

Central to this strategy is the Healthcare NExT program, designed to establish a dedicated brand for Microsoft’s healthcare technology innovations, driving advancements and efficiencies. 

The key components of Microsoft’s healthcare offerings include the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, Healthcare NExT, Microsoft Genomics, Medical Scribe, and Microsoft Health Bot. It has also forged notable partnerships with healthcare leaders like Providence, Walgreens, Novartis, and Humana, among others.

About 79% of healthcare organisations are currently using the company’s AI capabilities. They are experiencing a swift return on their investment, typically within just 14 months, with an impressive average return of $3.20 for every $1 invested in AI.

The company wants to improve patient outcomes and streamline clinical workflows through AI and collaboration with clinicians, focusing on accelerating healthcare progress, personalising experiences, reducing burnout among clinicians, and democratising access.

“Our belief in the transformative power of technology drives our focus on healthcare initiatives,” he added. 

Microsoft’s generative AI capabilities have been well-received in healthcare, notably through a collaboration with Stanford Medicine using Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience Copilot (DAX Copilot). 

Clinicians report that DAX Copilot streamlines documentation, freeing them to focus more on patient care, as seen with WellSpan Health’s adoption of the technology.

What’s Next?

“We’re focused on three key areas: fixing care continuum problems, enhancing data systems for better insights, and accelerating cloud adoption while ensuring security,” said Krishnan. 

However, there are several challenges to overcome at first. For example, ensure high-quality data for AI model training, maintaining privacy and security, and navigating social, legal, and ethical issues. 

In March, along with 16 health systems and two healthcare technology companies, it launched a health AI governance network called The Trustworthy & Responsible AI Network, or TRAIN.

“The integration of technology and AI in healthcare is changing the landscape of medical services in India, making quality care more accessible and affordable for everyone,” Krishnan concluded. 

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A senior graphic and visual designer at Accenture, Sai Kaustuv Dasgupta, aka the Wheelchair Warrior of India, told AIM how he has been using Microsoft Copilot to generate commands and content-related tasks. 

Dasgupta lives with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a rare genetic disorder that has caused over 50 fractures, 90% locomotor impairment, and 80% hearing loss.

He is not alone in using this tool; many users with disabilities rely on it. 

Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie, stated, “Accessibility is about more than just technology; it’s about creating a culture of inclusion. When we design with accessibility in mind, we create better experiences for everyone.”

The 2022 Global Report on Assistive Technology, jointly published by WHO and UNICEF, reveals that only 3% of people in some low-income countries have the assistive products they need, compared to 90% in some high-income countries.

Historically, products like Microsoft Office and Windows have incorporated accessibility features after years of development. However, Copilot was designed with accessibility from the beginning, reshaping human-computer interactions to be more inclusive. 

Integrated into Microsoft 365’s core apps, Copilot supports assistive technologies such as screen readers, magnifiers, contrast themes, and voice input, providing a seamless user experience.

For example, it helps users with disabilities by quickly drafting emails, creating PowerPoint presentations via voice commands, and assisting neurodiverse users with organising thoughts, writing tasks, and processing information, thus enhancing communication and productivity. 

The Accessibility Assistant in Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint helps authors create accessible content by detecting and resolving issues early on. It also features in-canvas notifications for readability, quick-fix cards, and per-slide toggles for PowerPoint.

Making AI Accessible for Shared Humanity 

Microsoft’s commitment to making generative AI accessible to all, especially disabled individuals, is longstanding. 

Five years ago, at Microsoft Build, the company announced ‘AI for Accessibility,’ a $25 million five-year program to inspire developers to create AI-based products for the disabled.

“Accessibility is not a bolt-on. It’s something that must be built into every product we make so that our products work for everyone. Only then will we empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. This is the inclusive culture we aspire to create,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. 

This year at Microsoft Build, the company announced that the US-based AI startup From Your Eyes won the 2024 Imagine Cup student competition. The startup developed a mobile app and API using GPT-4 and image recognition technology to provide real-time visual explanations for users with impaired vision.

From Your Eyes was created out of a profound personal need and a visionary goal. “After losing my vision completely at the age of ten, I knew I would never be able to see biologically again, but I believed it could be possible with technology,” says From Your Eyes founder and CEO Zülal Tannur.  

Through Microsoft’s Seeing AI initiative, Zülal met visually impaired developers worldwide, inspiring her to learn to code. SeeingAI, which debuted in 2017, is a free app from Microsoft designed for the visually impaired. Enhanced video descriptions, facilitated by GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, and alternative communication methods like Cboard’s picture board app powered by Azure Neural Voices expand the breadth of impact.

The event’s runners-up, JRE and PlanRoadmap, are using cutting-edge AI to create a greener steel industry and creating an AI productivity coach to help people with ADHD overcome task paralysis, respectively.  

Similarly, the company is also working with global advertising giant WPP to improve opportunities for individuals with visual impairments. It has built an application that allows you to upload videos, and with OpenAI’s GPT-4 Vision and Azure AI services, you get your video back with spoken descriptions over the top.

“The first time I heard audio descriptions, it just brought me to light. It was this opportunity of ‘Oh my gosh, I’m seeing!’ Through the power of AI, we’ll be able to do things we only dreamt about until recently,” said WPP global head of inclusive design Josh Loebner. 

However, besides Microsoft, its competitors also take accessibility seriously. This was evident a week ago when Google introduced new features for Maps, Lookout, and Android. Lookout now allows users to search for specific objects and get distance information. Look to Speak lets users select phrases with their eyes and customise symbols. At the same time, Project Gameface, which uses facial gestures to control the mouse cursor, is now on Android. 

Google Maps will also offer detailed walking instructions and screen reader capabilities. Android’s updated sound notifications alert users to sounds like fire alarms.

Similarly, Apple introduced new accessibility features for iPads and iPhones to support users with diverse needs better. These include eye tracking, music haptics, vocal shortcuts, vehicle motion cues, and major updates to Apple Vision Pro’s visionOS.

Tim Cook once said, “When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” So for Microsoft, Apple and others, designing for diverse needs is about creating real, tangible impact, not just ticking boxes.

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