AI being deployed ‘at scale’ says Microsoft

In the closing months of 2023, Microsoft’s sales shot up, thanks in large part to the increased demand for the company’s artificial intelligence platforms.

According to the corporation, revenue generated from September to December increased by 18% year-on-year to more than $60 billion.

The news came at the same time that Microsoft surpassed Apple to become the most valuable publicly traded corporation in the world. This month, Microsoft’s market value reached more than $3 trillion (£2.4 trillion).

Artificial intelligence is being implemented "at scale" at Microsoft, according to Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella.

The results demonstrate that Microsoft is one of the leading corporations in the technology industry as companies compete to profit from an anticipated next wave of growth that will be brought about by advancements in artificial intelligence. The company issued an update to investors on a quarterly basis.

With the publication of the ChatGPT bot in 2022, the tech giant had a significant investment in OpenAI, the company that was responsible for its creation. This bot was responsible for a wave of optimism over the new technological possibilities.

Nevertheless, the growth of its scope has not been without of criticism. OpenAI is being sued by the New York Times, a journalistic company based in the United States, for allegedly infringing on its copyright in order to train the system.

According to the statement made in the case, which also includes Microsoft as a defendant, the companies should be held accountable for "billions of dollars" in losses sustained.

It is possible for ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) to "learn" by examining a vast amount of data, which is frequently obtained from the internet.

The software and other products that Microsoft offers to businesses have been updated to include artificial intelligence-assisted tools for coding, as well as other applications. During the month of November, sales of Copilot began. The programme is able to provide a summary of meetings that were held in Teams for individuals who have chosen not to participate. Additionally, Copilot is able to compose emails, design word documents, construct spreadsheet graphs, and create PowerPoint presentations.

"Winning new customers" was the phrase that Mr. Nadella used to describe the results of these recent efforts.

The cloud computing services offered by Microsoft Azure, which are constantly monitored by investors, had a year-on-year increase in sales of thirty percent, which was better than what analysts had projected.

There was a 33% year-on-year increase in profits during the quarter, which totaled $21.9 billion.

Additionally, Alphabet, the company that owns Google and YouTube, is keeping the plan for artificial intelligence at the forefront of its thoughts. The company provided an update to investors on Tuesday.

Alphabet announced that its revenues for the quarter ending in September-December increased by 13% year-on-year and that it earned earnings of approximately $20.7 billion, which is a significant increase from the $13.6 billion it reported for the same period previous year.

According to Boss Sundar Pichai, the company’s investments in artificial intelligence are also boosting the company’s search, cloud computing, and YouTube operations.

In spite of the gains, both businesses have continued to reduce the number of employees they employ.

A further wave of job cuts was announced by Google this month, bringing the company’s total staff down by almost 5% since the previous year.

Microsoft also said that it intends to reduce the size of its gaming division by eliminating 1,900 positions, which is equivalent to nine percent of the workforce in that area.

After completing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company that is responsible for the video games Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, the company made this decision.

Share this article: