- Microsoft announced a new artificial intelligence subscription service for Microsoft 365 on Tuesday. The company charges users an additional $30 per month to use generative AI in tools like Teams, Excel, and Word.
- Adding a Generative AI subscription is reported to cost enterprise users 50% more per month.
- The update comes amid increasing competition among tech giants such as Microsoft, Google and IBM to offer consumer-driven generative AI tools.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during an interview in Redmond, Wash., March 15, 2023.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft shares rose as much as 5.8% on Tuesday after Microsoft announced a new artificial intelligence subscription service for Microsoft 365. The company charges users an additional $30 per month to use generative AI in tools like Teams, Excel, and Word.
Adding a subscription to Copilot, the generative AI assistant that works across Microsoft 365 programs, could increase an enterprise customer’s monthly bill by as much as 83%. Copilot’s capabilities include ranking incoming email, summarizing meetings, analyzing spreadsheet data, creating prompts, designing presentations, and more, according to Microsoft.
The update comes amid increasing competition among tech giants such as Microsoft, Google and IBM to offer consumer-driven generative AI tools.
“It’s based on business data in Microsoft Graph, which is everything from email, calendars, chats, documents, and more,” Microsoft wrote in a release, noting that the tool provides users with preconfigured Microsoft 365 security, It added that it follows its privacy and compliance policies. .
The tool is currently in early testing with 600 enterprise customers, including Goodyear and General Motors. Microsoft has not announced a public release schedule.
On Tuesday, the company also announced visual search, a significant update to its AI chatbot Bing Chat. Users can now take a photo on their desktop or through the Bing app, upload it to Bing Chat, and ask for more information about that photo.
