A year on from the initial launch of ChatGPT, it's fair to say that advanced AI technology has had a significant impact on the business world. Microsoft has played a huge role in helping forward the development of workplace AI, spearheading a wide range of launches and initiatives aimed at helping businesses of all sizes maximize their use of the technology in several ways. But with the potential of the technology still far from being realized, how much more can businesses benefit from AI? We spoke to Alysa Taylor, Corporate Vice President, Azure + Industry, Microsoft to find out. A year ago, when OpenAI first introduced ChatGPT to the public in November 2022, the response was simply phenomenal. Within two months of its launch, ChatGPT had amassed an astonishing 100 million monthly users, making it one of the fastest-growing consumer applications in history. Fast forward to today and the momentum has only accelerated, with ChatGPT now boasting 100 million active weekly users, as of November 2023. This overwhelming public reception signals that there is an incredible appetite for this new form of AI technology. Over the last year, we've witnessed remarkable advancement of large language models which are evolving at an unprecedented pace. In collaboration with OpenAI, in February we launched the new AI-powered Bing Chat - reinventing the way we search and how we engage with the incredible wealth of resources on the internet. Subsequently, in March, we introduced Copilot for Microsoft 365 – embedding the generative AI-powered chatbot into our everyday work productivity software. Since then, we’ve been on a mission to empower every organization to harness the power of generative AI by embedding Copilot solutions into different workstreams, from Copilot in Dynamics 365 and Copilot in Microsoft Sales, to launching Copilot for Azure, Copilot for Security, and Copilot for GitHub – shifting what success looks like for every role and function. Further, as we accelerate into the era of generative AI, Microsoft is also investing the groundwork in cloud infrastructure to ensure optimization across both hardware and software support. At Microsoft Ignite 2023, we unveiled two new Microsoft-designed chips, Azure Maia – an AI Accelerator chip to run cloud-based training workloads, and Azure Cobalt – a cloud-native chip for general-purpose workloads. On top of this, Azure Boost, our new system designed to improve the performance of virtual machines is also generally available. The speed of innovation, paired with the demonstrated business value we are starting to see from AI investments in every industry, is evidence that we are witnessing the next great paradigm shift. It’s incredibly inspiring to see the potential of AI emerging for both individuals and organizations as everyone looks for the use cases that will enable a step-change in the ways that they operate. I think we are all seeing first-hand how generative AI has immense potential. Even in a short period, organizations are tackling some of their biggest challenges, from helping physician burnout in healthcare, combating cybercrime, and connecting with customers in new ways – AI is becoming woven into the fabric of society and the economic impact will be significant. While top use cases vary by industry, we see organizations around the globe tackling a range of opportunities. One of the most pertinent examples of AI’s potential is in healthcare. Healthcare workers around the world are facing increased pressure. In the UK, especially, as we enter the winter months, the NHS is facing rising pressure. AI can unlock predictive insights that help to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare services. Our strategic partnership with Epic exemplifies our commitment to bringing AI to the forefront of healthcare at a significant scale. This collaboration involves the integration of conversational, ambient, and generative AI technologies across the Epic electronic health record (EHR) ecosystem. Additionally, in March this year, we embedded GPT-4 into Nuance’s Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Express model - a workflow-integrated, fully automated clinical documentation application. Using a unique combination of conversational, ambient, and generative AI, it helps clinicians with consultation note-taking, by automatically creating draft notes after a patient visit, within seconds. Nuance Dax is currently deployed by hundreds of Epic customers to support thousands of physicians, significantly reducing their administrative workload and freeing up time they can then spend on delivering a better quality of care. Looking across industries, we announced Security Copilot in March, which enables organizations to use AI as they combat the increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape and help bridge the global security talent shortage. We’ve received positive feedback from our early preview customers, who say that using natural language, Security Copilot can automatically and proactively write up complex queries and security flags, saving up to 40% of time spent on core security operation tasks. Read this interview on OUR FORUM.