🪟 Microsoft Is THE AI Player Right Now

Microsoft crushes a lot, NY schools squash ChatGPT, Tool of the Day and more

Author

Kyle Scott
January 09, 2023

2023: Like if Clippy had a baby... which possessed the sum total of human knowledge and didn't suck.

Microsoft Is All The Rage 🏋️

This section was not written in 1995. Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and a collection of dorks aren't dancing to Start Me Up.

You make a grown man crrrrrrryyyyyy!!!!! This one. You're making this man cry.

Anyway, what Microsoft is doing now is less cringe.

News: Microsoft plans to add ChatGPT functionality into Bing and Office

The Information ably reported both last week, but the details are as follows:

  • Microsoft aims to incorporate OpenAI's ChatGPT into Bing by March

  • They're also exploring how to add ChatGPT like functionality to Office apps like Excel and Outlook

  • The latter use case could allow users to generate emails, distill data in spreadsheets, and generally increase overall functionality

  • The concerns with both search and Office center on the accuracy of responses from ChatGPT, which can be very hit or miss

Basically, they don't want another Clippy fiasco.

But the ramifications could be huge.

Bing does an adequate job of compiling and displaying search results. But it's not better than Google (the category verb), and so there is basically no compelling reason to use it.

Bolt on a sexy useful AI assistant with similar search results, however... and now you have something.

This won't destroy Google - which is working on its own AI that might wind up being more powerful than OpenAI - but it might take meaningful market share from a company already impacted by headwinds.

Former Googler David Friedberg on the latest All-In podcast predicted that the big loser for 2023 could be Google vs. the field. Meaning, not just Microsoft, but a consortium of competitive AI challengers may eat away double-digit market share from the search giant.

Microsoft might just be the first.

But what about Office?

I would argue that the best use case RIGHT NOW for AI isn't providing answers-- it's generating useful output.

When we search, we are typically looking for an answer to a query.

For example: yesterday, I was trying to figure out how to transfer AMEX Rewards points to American Airlines.

Long story short, the airline isn't an official partner with AMEX, but many of its partner airlines are, and so you have to transfer the points first to a partner and then buy a ticket with.... never mind, you get the point. It's doable, but requires a number of steps.

Google provided me many articles on how to do this, including ones with all of the processes nuances, which are many.

ChatGPT got stomped. First it told me it was possible to do directly (it's not). And then when I corrected it, I got a very generic answer with no concrete guidance.

It'll be a while before AI can get to that level of specificity (I think).

But what AI is REALLY GOOD at RIGHT NOW is useful output: summarizing articles, creating lists, generating ideas, creating basic text, coding help, recipes, and more.

And that's where Office comes in.

Many of the leading AI tools, today, help with output. Genius Sheets or Writesonic come to mind.

Now imagine the functionality of those tools inside the apps you're already using... like Word, Outlook, and Excel.

That's the game-changer.

It's not about the answers AI can provide.

It's about the work it can help create.

Microsoft saw this coming

Quick, tuck your hands in your pocket and looker smarter than everyone

Talk about calling your shot:

Let's rewind like that trippy scene in Hamilton where Angelica laments introducing a wordsmith like Hamilton to her sister:

Meanwhile, over at Facebook, ahem, Meta:

Microsoft looking really good right now, in the real world.

New York City Public Schools Ban ChatGPT 🚫

  • New York City public schools have banned the use of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, on school devices and networks due to concerns over negative impacts on student learning and the accuracy of its content

  • They stated that ChatGPT does not build critical thinking and problem solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success

  • The restrictions on ChatGPT's use may be difficult to enforce in New York City schools, as students and teachers may be able to access the chatbot on Wi-Fi networks or devices that are not affiliated with the school, or via their cellular network on campus

  • Individual schools in New York City may request access to ChatGPT from the Department of Education

Just the sort of foresight you expect from public school admins.

Tool of the Day 🔨

We mentioned it earlier, but WriteSonic is a super user-friendly writer.

Here's the bottom line from our review:

Simply put, Writesonic is a tool that’s worthy of consideration. The service is especially valuable for users who intend to take advantage of more than one functionality. From high-quality copywriting and social media copy to the potential upside of image generation, there are enough features to make a monthly fee worth paying.

Keep in mind that the fee itself is done on a sliding scale, depending on the total number of words of generation you want to have access to in a given month, as well as the tier of word quality.

For example, 100 premium words equates to 250 good words, 500 average words, or 1,000 economy words.

In the interim as you decide which plan could be best for you, Writesonic’s free trial will give you the ability to test out a number of features before locking-in your word count and premium account.

Smoking Robot review

You can try it for 50% off right now.

Of course, you can always search our full list of the latest AI tools here.

Talk Sweet Somethings To Your Robot 👩‍🏫

Coming soon: our tool to browse a library of ChatGPT prompts and guides.

Podcast of the Day 🎤

Lots of AI talk and predictions, including the aforementioned ramifications to Google, in the latest All-In podcast:

Links 👀

That's all for today.