Microsoft is looking to add OpenAI’s writing tech to Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint

Microsoft has been reported on planning to integrate OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot technology into its popular office applications to improve efficiency and productivity. An unnamed source told The Information that users of Microsoft 365, previously known as Office, may soon be able to use the software to generate text with simple prompts.

For users, this means they can complete a document with sections of pre-written text based on a given prompt. One example is an email that is automatically composed by AI based on the user’s intended message to the recipient.

The report by The Information confirms Microsoft has already implemented OpenAI’s GPT text-generating model in Word’s autocomplete feature and is working to implement it in further features of Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

The GPT technology developed by OpenAI has reportedly been used by Microsoft to enhance Outlook search results, allowing users to find what they need without having to perform keyword searches within emails.

Microsoft is rumoured to have investigated whether or not these AI models could be used to recommend responses to emails or edits to documents in an effort to help users of Microsoft Word improve their writing. Whether or not Microsoft intends to officially release these features remains unclear; for the time being, they may simply be in the testing phase.

If Microsoft prioritises integrating features found in ChatGPT, the conversational AI that made headlines last year, then Outlook may soon be able to compose full emails in response to simple queries. Imagine if you could ask Outlook to “write an email to my team explaining I’m out sick,” and it would do just that.

We earlier reported the Software giant was working on a version of Bing that will use ChatGPT to provide results for search queries. This update is planned for March and is intended to make Bing more competitive with Google.

There are many obstacles Microsoft must overcome before it can add sophisticated AI text-generation features to its productivity apps. Accuracy ranks first among these disadvantages. Inaccurate information is still presented as fact in ChatGPT, which complicates document creation and advanced integration.

Privacy is another major issue. Microsoft will need to tailor its models to customers’ specific needs without jeopardising their private information. The Information further claims Microsoft has been developing privacy-protecting models with GPT-3 and the forthcoming GPT-4. Initial successes in training large language models on confidential data have reportedly been achieved by Microsoft researchers.

Using these models, Microsoft could automatically extract relevant data from Teams Meetings transcripts, summarise it, and then incorporate images created by OpenAI’s Dall-E 2 image generation model into PowerPoint presentations. It is unclear whether or not GPT- or Dall-E 2-powered models will be included in Office products, but researchers have reportedly presented their Office integration work to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

As it stands, many Microsoft productivity apps make use of AI in some form. Using GPT-3, Microsoft developed an AI-powered autocomplete for code two years ago. Microsoft Word and PowerPoint use AI algorithms to automatically suggest image and slide deck captions. Text prediction, grammar checking, and spellchecking are just a few of the ways that Microsoft Editor improves your writing with the help of artificial intelligence.

If Microsoft goes ahead with GPT-enabled Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint, it will be a major step toward the widespread adoption of OpenAI’s GPT models. Microsoft’s PowerApps was the company’s first commercial use of GPT, and it appears that Bing will soon follow suit by offering search results powered by artificial intelligence. If OpenAI’s language models were integrated into Office and Bing, it would be a major blow to Google’s search dominance and Workspace offerings.