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One of the biggest challenges with emerging technologies is finding people who can develop or operate them. Generative AI is one such case in question. According to the World Economic Forum, 60% of workers globally will require training before 2027. Yet despite the best efforts of many enterprises, only half of workers have access to training.
Microsoft, which has invested heavily in generative AI, announced this week a new AI Skills Initiative through LinkedIn that includes free online training.
Writing on LinkedIn, Kate Behncken, corporate vice president for Microsoft Philanthropies, explained the new offering will include a number of modules to help participants develop AI skills that translate to the workplace, including:
- A professional certificate on generative AI.
- A new grant offering in coordination with data.org that will focus on finding new ways to train workers on generative AI.
- Access to free learning events and resources.
“We’ll need to revolutionize how we train people, and we believe that AI skills can help. We are just starting to explore the possibilities," Behncken worte.
The training is currently available in English, but will be available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese and Japanese over the coming months. It's unclear from the announcement if the program will include training in the technical skills needed to develop generative AI.
However, even at a basic level, educating workers in the capabilities and challenges of generative AI should help them understand generative AI's potential as well as the difficulties that need to be overcome before introducing the tech into the workplace.
Microsoft Teams May Face EU Antitrust Probe
Staying with Microsoft, Reuters reports the company could be facing another antitrust probe, this time over Teams and bundling.
Citing people familiar with the subject, it states that attempts to resolve the issue via discussion between the company and the EU have come to nothing and so an investigation is expected in the coming months.
The issue was first raised in 2020 when Slack lodged a complaint against the company citing illegal and anti-competitive practices. The complaint accused Microsoft of abusing its market dominance to extinguish competition, in breach of European Union competition law.
What it comes down to in practice is Slack believes Microsoft's inclusion of Teams in the Office productivity suite essentially forced it on millions of users and blocked those same users from removing it.
Microsoft added Teams to Office 365 in 2017 for free. The app eventually replaced Skype for Business.
At the time of the complaint, Jonathan Prince, vice president of communications and policy at Slack, said in a statement said that while Slack is confident it could match Microsoft and Teams in a fair market, it could not “ignore illegal behavior."
The statement read: “Slack threatens Microsoft’s hold on business email, the cornerstone of Office, which means Slack threatens Microsoft’s lock on enterprise software.”
During the ongoing discussions with the EU, Microsoft offered to cut the price of its Office product for companies that didn't want the Teams app. The EU said the price cut offered might level the playing field, but isn't enough.
The possibility remains that Microsoft will make further concessions to avoid the antitrust case, according to the Reuters article.
Google Pushes Duet AI Into Slides
Google, like many companies, has been building its generative AI muscles this year. One of the first results of its efforts, Duet AI for Google Workspace, this week expanded access to an AI image generation tool in Slides.
Google first announced Duet AI at its Google I/O conference in May. At the time, Google indicated it was testing Duet AI in a limited release. It also announced it was offering preorders to enterprises interested in using it and that for others, it would be generally available later this year.
According to reports in 9To5 Google, Duet AI has expanded to more accounts as the company expands its testing.
The AI image generation functionality works using a pop-up interface where users can describe the thing they would like to visualize. It then produces eight different results that can be refined according to need.
The image creation is not instantaneous — it takes about 20 seconds to respond as opposed to the almost-immediate responses now on offer in Gmail or in Docs.
The introduction of DuetAI into Slides follows its introduction into Sheets at the end of last month. The Sheets upgrade was also announced at I/O and enables the creation of table templates for common requests like product roadmaps, budgets, and events. It works in the same way as Duet AI for Slides, through a pop-up box that offers a “Help me Organize” prompts.
While Google may be taking a slower approach to introducing generative AI than competitors such as Microsoft with its Microsoft Copilot, it is consistent with the previous development pace of G Suite — now Workspaces — with its steady introduction of small, incremental improvements. Expect more on the way here.
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Former Twitter and Giphy Execs Launch Lighty AI-Powered Personal Assistant
The Information this week reported former Twitter vice president Richard Rabbat and the former chief technology officer of the GIF library Giphy joined forces to launch Lighty, a new startup which is developing a new AI-powered personal assistant.
According to the report, the new assistant solves one of the most time-consuming problems in the digital workplace, notably calendar management and finding time for group meetings.
Rabbat told the Information the product aims at the majority of people who do not have executive assistants. Rabbat previously was responsible for managing employees at Twitter and developed the infrastructure for this app.
The new assistant will be able to automatically schedule meetings based on conversations in the workplace through communication channels like Slack or email. In the future, the company plans to add the ability to create meeting agendas and summaries.
Lighty is moving into a tech space that is already starting to heat up. At the end of June, OpenAI’s Sam Altman indicated the company wants to develop a personal assistant for work. That assistant will reportedly be able to draft emails and documents using up-to-date information about the organization in question.
Databricks also launched an AI-powered intelligence assistant in late June to help workers ask complicated questions about the data in their organization. According to reports, it will let users ask questions in natural language, without using computer code
Meanwhile, AI Foundation launched AI.XYZ, a platform for people to create their own AI assistants. According to the website, AI.XYZ is a SaaS platform where anyone can create their own personalized and proactive AI in three steps.
It is very early days in the development of assistants based on generative AI, but based on the current rate, we can soon expect an assistant for every kind of task in the workplace.
Inflection Raises $1.3B, Runway Raises $141M
Finally, this week, with interest in generative AI at a fever pitch, the big-ticket funding announcements continue at a startling pace.
Two notable funding announcements arrived in the last week. The first is from Inflection AI, a startup backed by Microsoft, Nvidia and led by ex-DeepMind leader Mustafa Suleyman. The company raised $1.3 billion, bringing it to its current valuation of $4 billion.
The funding round comes a mere two months after it released its first chatbot, known as Chatbot Pi. Also noteworthy is the inclusion of two of the investors, namely Microsoft and Nvidia, both of which are actively chasing generative AI acquisitions to improve their already huge investments in the space.
The company will use the money to continue the development of Pi, which is described as a “personal AI” that provides users with knowledge according to their needs.
Next up is Runway, a startup that develops generative AI tools for multimedia content creators. It announced an additional $141 million in funding as part of an extension to the original $50 million Series C round announced in December, bringing the total it has raised to date to $237 million.
Founded in 2018, Runway has been moving into the generative AI space with a focus on its possible uses in video. Its current Gen-2 product generates video from text-prompts or images. In a statement about the round, the company stated it would use the money to continue product development.
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