Matt Weston, Managing Director of Microsoft 365 consultancy Vantage 365, on the rise of AI and what it means for Microsoft customers.
Q: ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. Has its rise to power shocked you?
Matt Weston (MW): The sudden burst of acceleration we’ve seen from ChatGPT has certainly been surprising. It’s been released to widespread use and has already been adopted all over the globe.
That said, the use of AI within the IT industry has been steadily increasing over the last 10 years, with natural language processing, image recognition and form recognition among the most common uses. With the large-scale adoption of no-code and low-code frameworks, this was already starting to gain traction before ChatGPT came onto the scene, through the likes of AI Builder in Microsoft PowerPlatform, and the launch of Microsoft Syntex.
Q: Why has ChatGPT been so successful?
MW: The big reason behind ChatGPT’s success is the ease of use for end users. Anyone can use natural language to generate output, whether that is graphical or textual in nature. The immediate ability to not only search the internet but to ask it to answer questions is something that generates both excitement and curiosity about the platform.
The rapid advances in AI capabilities have opened up new possibilities for using machines in various domains, with the technology poised to revolutionise the way people work. One of the primary reasons why AI is essential is its remarkable capacity to automate repetitive and mundane tasks, freeing up valuable time and resources for more creative and high-level activities. Additionally, AI is a crucial tool for augmenting decision-making processes by providing real-time insights and predictions based on extensive data analysis. This empowers businesses and organisation to make informed decisions and gain a competitive edge.
Q: What are the limitations of ChatGPT?
MW: Although ChatGPT is a highly sophisticated language model that produces contextually relevant and coherent responses it’s not without its limitations. For example, it suffers from an absence of common sense. While ChatGPT can generate technically correct responses, it lacks the reasoning that is inherent in human thought. As a result, its responses can sometimes be logically flawed or plainly nonsensical, despite superficially appearing coherent.
In addition to this, the platform is reliant on input data. The quality and quantity of input data used to train ChatGPT heavily influences the quality of its responses. If the input data is biased or incomplete, the model can produce biased or inaccurate responses.
Q: Microsoft has recently launched Copilot, its answer to ChatGPT. How does Copilot improve upon ChatGPT?
MW: Copilot represents a significant leap forward in natural language processing technology, taking AI-powered assistance beyond general conversation and into specific industries and domains. What sets Copilot apart from ChatGPT is a highly specialised focus on solving business problems, ranging from code writing to low-code app generation, which demonstrates the potential for AI to enhance specific industries and workflows.
It has leveraged OpenAI’s GPT-3 language to advance to GPT-4, an expansive model and massive dataset of publicly available code, to generate highly relevant and accurate suggestions that are tailored to the specific context in which the user is working, whether that is development or content creation in SharePoint.
The platform excels where it’s embedded into our everyday working environment, becoming part of SharePoint, GitHub or PowerPlatform, to assist in the creation of content.
Q: When and how can businesses already using Microsoft 365 products incorporate Copilot into their existing processes?
MW: At present, Copilot is still in the early stages of its development and is only available through a limited technical preview program for select developers.
Businesses that currently use Microsoft 365 products should closely monitor updates from Microsoft regarding the availability and integration of Copilot. Once it’s available, companies can explore ways to incorporate Copilot into their existing workflows to improve their productivity and efficiency.
With its advanced natural language processing capabilities and tailored suggestions for code completion, Copilot has the potential to revolutionise the way businesses approach software development and coding tasks.
Q: What does the future of collaborative AI look like? Are we only now scratching the surface of what’s possible?
MW: The future of collaborative AI is certainly a promising one, with endless possibilities for enhancing productivity, creativity and problem solving in a wide range of industries and domains.
As AI continues to evolve and improve, we can expect to see even more sophisticated collaborative AI systems that can work seamlessly with humans to tackle complex tasks and challenges. These systems will likely incorporate a range of AI techniques, such as natural language processing, computer vision and machine learning, to enable more intuitive and efficient interactions between humans and machines.
In addition to enhancing productivity and efficiency, collaborative AI has the potential to unlock new opportunities for innovation and creativity. By leveraging the unique strengths of both humans and machines, collaborative AI systems can enable us to explore new frontiers in fields like healthcare, education and scientific research.
However, as with any rapidly advancing technology, there are potential risks and ethical considerations that must be carefully considered and addressed. As we move forward with the development of collaborative AI, it will be essential to ensure that these systems are designed and used in a responsible and ethical manner, with a focus on promoting the common good and safeguarding human rights and values.
The key thing to remember for now is that AI is not a replacement for human intelligence. It is there as an assistant to help us achieve tasks more efficiently, while reducing the number of human errors that naturally occur.
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