Microsoft will unveil new Windows and cloud AI features in May

Microsoft
will
reveal
brand-new
artificial
intelligence
tools
for
use
on
PCs
and
in
the
cloud
at
its
annual
Build
conference,
according
to
a
session
list
posted
Wednesday.

In
January,
Microsoft
CEO
Satya
Nadella
told
analysts
that
2024
is
the
year
when “AI
will
become
[a]
first-class
part
of
every
PC,”
and
the
itinerary
for
Microsoft’s
May
conference
reflects
that
goal.
Microsoft

has
reported
significant
revenue
growth
from
clients
running
AI
models
in
its
Azure
public
cloud,
and
the
company
wants
to
keep
the
trend
going
by
rolling
out
new
AI
features
for
developers.

The
new
head
of
Microsoft
AI,
Mustafa
Suleyman,
will
take
the
stage
alongside
Nadella
and
other
longtime
executives
during
the
show’s

keynote
address
in
Seattle.
Suleyman
—
a
co-founder
of
DeepMind,
the
AI
startup
that
Google
acquired
in
2014
—

joined
Microsoft
last
month
from
startup
Inflection
AI.

People
looking
to
get
the
most
out
of
Windows
operating
systems
have
for
years
been
able
install
PowerToys,
an

open
source
bundle
of
utilities
that
include
an
image-resizing
widget
and
a
keyboard
shortcut
customization
program.
At
Build,
Microsoft
will
talk
about
a
new

Advanced
Paste
feature,
which
draws
on
AI
models
that
run
directly
on
PCs,
rather
than
having
to
send
data
to
the
cloud
and
receive
responses.

The
software
maker
will
also
talk
about
new
AI
features “that
allow
users
deeper
interaction
with
their
digital
lives
on
Windows,”
according
to
one

session
description.
Developers
will
be
able
to
integrate
these
features
into
Windows
applications.

As
part
of
this
strategy,
Microsoft
in
March

introduced
Surface
PCs,
which
feature
a
Copilot
button
for
quick
access
to
the
company’s
chatbot.
Those
machines
contain


Intel
processors.
For
years,
Microsoft
has
been
working
to
improve
user
experience
on
Windows
PCs
by
running
energy-efficient
chips
on
the
Arm
architecture
rather
than
the
standard
x86
model
that
Intel
uses.

At
Build,
Microsoft
plans
to
discuss
how
Windows
apps
will
be
able
to
tap
Arm-based
neural
processing
engines,
or
NPUs,
for
artificial
intelligence.

Organizations
building
their
own
chatbots
in
the
Azure
AI
Studio
will
hear
about
new
features
related
to

AI
safety,
which
will
aim
to
lower
the
likelihood
of
models
generating
statements
about
sex
and
violence
or
posing
security
risks.

Microsoft
is
also
trying
to
make
it
easier
to
use
Azure
overall.
The
company
also
will
talk
about
enhancements
coming
to
the

Copilot
chatbot
that’s
accessible
in
Azure,
which
is
currently
available
to
select
clients
in
preview
mode.

You
can
find
the
full
session
catalog
for
the
2024
Build
conference

here.