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Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Indian Express
Microsoft launches a new AI model, Phi-4-mini-flash-reasoning, with 10 times faster responses
Microsoft has unveiled its newest AI model in the Phi family, Phi-mini-flash-reasoning. The Phi-4-mini-flash-reasoning is an open, small language model (SLM) designed to retain high reasoning efficiency for edge devices, mobile applications, and other resource-constrained environments. The SLM is a compact AI model engineered for fast, on-device logical reasoning. 'This new model follows Phi-4-mini but is built on a new hybrid architecture that achieves up to 10 times higher throughput and a 2 to 3 times average reduction in latency, enabling significantly faster inference without sacrificing reasoning performance. Ready to power real-world solutions that demand efficiency and flexibility,' said Microsoft. The new model is inspired by its family member Phi-4-mini but is made for better performance. Phi-4-mini-flash-reasoning is built on a new hybrid architecture that provides a throughput 10 times faster than its predecessor. It also reduced the average latency by two or three times, which enables a significantly faster inference without sacrificing the reasoning. The model is available on the NVIDIA API Catalog, Azure AI Foundry, and Hugging Face today. For organised, mathematically oriented reasoning tasks, the 3.8 billion parameter open model is optimised on high-quality synthetic data while maintaining support for a 64k token context length. In contrast to previous Phi models, Phi-4-mini-flash-reasoning presents a new 'decoder-hybrid-decoder' architecture called SambaY, which combines a revolutionary Gated Memory Unit (GMU), sliding window attention, and state-space models (Mamba) to improve long-context performance and decrease decoding complexity. Microsoft claims that this configuration enables the model to add costly attention layers with lightweight GMUs while maintaining linear prefill calculation time. As a result, inference efficiency is much increased, which makes it suitable for usage on a single GPU or in latency-sensitive applications like adaptive learning apps and real-time teaching tools. Microsoft shared that the SLM Phi-4-mini-flash-reasoning outperforms a model twice its size in tasks such as AIME24/25 and Math500 by providing a faster response time on the VLLM inference framework. With safety features including supervised fine-tuning (SFT), direct preference optimization (DPO), and reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), the release is in line with Microsoft's larger campaign for ethical AI. The business points out that all Phi models adhere to its fundamental values of openness, confidentiality, and inclusivity.
Business Wire
08-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Novata Announces Collaboration with Microsoft to Scale Sustainability Solutions for SMEs Globally
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Novata, the private markets' sustainability management partner, today announced a collaboration with Microsoft. Novata will leverage Microsoft Azure AI Foundry - including Azure AI Search - and Microsoft Fabric to unlock new efficiencies and capabilities in its sustainability solutions, data management and reporting process for businesses globally, giving small and mid-sized Microsoft customers and supply chain partners access to Novata's pioneering sustainability technology solutions. Collaboration Highlights: Expand Access to Novata's Platform: Microsoft will become a key sales partner for Novata across its SME channel, making it easier for businesses to access Novata's platform and solutions, including the Carbon Navigator. Co-Develop AI Technology: Novata and Microsoft will co-develop a range of AI-powered tools to simplify sustainability data collection and reporting for clients, as well as drive value creation. Strengthen Supply Chain Reporting: Novata will help Microsoft suppliers meet their climate reporting obligations, providing companies with the tools needed to track, manage, and report sustainability metrics with greater accuracy, efficiency and affordability. 'We are excited to deepen our relationship with Microsoft, a company that has not only revolutionized productivity but has also been a leader in addressing the climate crisis and leveraging AI for good,' said Alex Friedman, CEO and Co-Founder of Novata. 'This collaboration expands our global reach and strengthens our commitment to providing trusted technology that simplifies sustainability data management, helping companies unlock growth opportunities and enhance their resilience in a rapidly changing world.' Since its commercial launch in April 2022, Novata has experienced significant global demand for its all-in-one solution for sustainability data management, carbon accounting, regulatory reporting, and advisory services. Novata's platform is trusted and used by hundreds of GPs in private equity, growth equity, private credit, and venture capital, and more than 10,000 companies in all major geographies. Novata's clients manage over $12 trillion in assets. "We believe that addressing climate change is both a responsibility and an important business opportunity," said Jeremy Pitman, Director of Partner Development, Digital Natives and ISVs – Tech for Social Impact at Microsoft. "Our collaboration with Novata will enable a key segment of our clients to seamlessly and affordably integrate cutting-edge sustainability technology into their operations, empowering them to reduce their carbon footprints and meet their emissions goals.' Novata has been a portfolio company of Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund (CIF) since 2023, reinforcing the alignment of Novata's mission with Microsoft's commitment to advancing sustainability solutions. CIF is dedicated to accelerating the development and deployment of new climate innovations through both equity and debt capital. As a certified B-Corp and Public Benefit Corporation, Novata is on a mission to empower private markets to achieve a more sustainable and inclusive form of capitalism. To learn more about the collaboration, visit Novata's website and follow Novata on LinkedIn to keep up with the company's latest news and insights. About Novata Novata is the private markets' sustainability management partner. We empower hundreds of investment firms and over 10,000 companies to achieve their sustainability goals with our trusted data management platform and advisory practice—because it's good for business and it's good for the planet. Learn more at
Mint
07-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Are firms wasting their money on AI agents?
Next Story Leslie D'Monte Most firms are still trying out AI agents, hailed by Big Tech as game changers. Analysts warn that many of these may be scrapped within two years as they hide high costs, uncertain returns, and weak risk controls. Can firms unlock value through human-AI agent teamwork? Google and Microsoft recently called AI agents the next big shift, unveiling Project Mariner, Gemini tools, Azure AI Foundry and NLWeb. Gift this article Why is Big Tech bullish on AI agents? Unlike basic chatbots, AI agents are autonomous systems that can plan, reason and complete complex multi-step tasks with minimal input—such as coding, data analysis and generating reports. Developers use them across IT, customer support, and enterprise workflows. Google and Microsoft recently called AI agents the next big shift, unveiling Project Mariner, Gemini tools, Azure AI Foundry and NLWeb. Salesforce, Amazon, IBM, and Meta are also building these platforms to automate workflows and enhance productivity. Nasscom has said 46% of firms are experimenting with AI agents, mainly in IT. Also read | Global poverty: How to deal with funding cuts What should firms be wary of? Many so-called agentic use cases today can be done with simpler tools, says Gartner, which predicts over 40% of such projects will be scrapped by 2027 due to high costs, vague value or weak risk controls. It adds that of thousands of vendors, only about 130 are seen as credible; and many engage in 'agent washing"—rebranding chatbots, robotic process automation (RPA), or assistants as agents without real autonomy. Most current systems also lack the maturity to deliver complex outcomes or sustained return on investment (ROI). Nasscom echoes this, noting 62% of enterprises are only doing in-house agent testing. Also read | How India's $12 bn R&D push could reshape its tech future How big is the market for AI agents? The global AI agents market, valued at $5.4 billion in 2024, is pegged to touch $50.3 billion by 2030, per Grand View Research. North America led with 40.1% revenue share, while Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing region. Machine learning, single-agent systems, and ready-to-deploy agents dominated through tech, system type, and deployment model, respectively. Also read | Shades of grey: Inside the world of pre-IPO trading How can companies unlock real value? AI agent adoption is hindered by privacy concerns, regulation gaps, and limited focus on talent readiness. Integration with legacy enterprise software remains complex and costly. Regardless, Gartner predicts 15% of daily work decisions will be made autonomously by agentic AI by 2028, up from 0% in 2024. It also urges agentic AI-use only when the returns are clear. Nasscom sees strong potential in real-time decision-making and agility. Key focus areas include data governance and AI risk protocols. Also read | China's economy beats the gloom. Can it do more? Can humans make AI agents more effective? Though AI agents are designed to be autonomous, Nasscom's recent study of over 100 global enterprises reveals how businesses are transitioning from early-stage GenAI applications towards more goal-oriented, human-plus, AI agentic systems. It believes that to scale responsibly, enterprises must prioritize human-AI collaboration, trust and data readiness. Nasscom adds that most (77%) firms adopt AI agents with a 'human-in-the-loop" approach, reflecting the need for oversight and contextual judgment. Also read | Residential sales: Where have all the buyers gone? Topics You May Be Interested In Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Daily Tribune
01-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Tribune
KPMG launches KPMG Workbench
KPMG International yesterday launched KPMG Workbench – KPMG's foundational and single AI platform designed to scale global adoption and integration of AI, while enhancing trust and control over AI across all geographies and teams. It is part of the global organization's multi-billion dollar investment in AI and agentic transformation and is the foundation that will underpin KPMG firms' client delivery platforms, KPMG Digital Gateway (Tax), KPMG Velocity (Advisory) and our smart audit platform, KPMG Clara. 'With KPMG Workbench, we're combining advanced AI agents with the insight, judgment and deep expertise of our people to deliver smarter solutions for clients, faster and with full confidence in their security and compliance.' – David Rowlands, Global Head of AI, KPMG International A shared vision KPMG leveraged the Microsoft Azure platform, including AI capabilities in Azure AI Foundry, as the foundation for KPMG Workbench. This investment marks the evolution of Workbench from a proven platform for KPMG's developers to the firm's central hub for delivering and managing AI, using advanced agent interoperability technology to connect intelligent tools and support throughout various stages of the client journey. With generative and agentic AI, KPMG Workbench's ability to scale and specialize helps makes it transformative. By coordinating multiple task-specific agents to collaborate and share context, KPMG Workbench enables team members to automate complex, multi-step processes from client onboarding to regulatory reporting. These agents are modular, reusable, and continuously evolving, making it easier to adapt to changing business needs. ' In Bahrain, KPMG has established an AI Lab that is working with key clients in the market on some cutting edge use cases. We are significantly investing in Bahraini talent to drive the AI agenda forward for our clients' – Jamal Fakhro, Managing Partner, KPMG in Bahrain Clients onboarded Private instances of KPMG Workbench will be available to clients from across industries to help develop and manage their digital workforce of the future.'Our AI Lab is imple menting AI solutions that are already driving tangible value for our clients in the Kingdom. With KPMG Workbench, these homegrown capabilities will be significantly amplified, allowing us to accelerate the delivery of advanced, secure, and locally relevant AI-driven services, truly complementing the human intelligence and deep industry knowledge of our professionals.' – Manav Prakash, Partner, Advisory, KPMG in Bahrain.
Techday NZ
18-06-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
KPMG unveils AI platform Workbench in multi-billion dollar move
KPMG International has launched KPMG Workbench, an open, interoperable artificial intelligence (AI) platform designed to change the way it delivers services to clients and to support staff across its global operations. KPMG Workbench has been developed with Microsoft technology and support. The platform brings together a network of 50 AI assistants and chatbots that communicate with each other across multiple sectors. Nearly a thousand additional AI assistants are in development to meet a broader array of client requirements. The AI agents have been designed to operate as digital colleagues alongside KPMG professionals. They are built to work with various large language models (LLMs) and support the organisation in delivering solutions to clients more quickly, while aiming to maintain quality, trust, and compliance standards. Platform features The KPMG Workbench is built on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry services and is intended to allow agent-to-agent communications. It also integrates with technology from other alliance partners, including Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Workday. This interoperability is designed so that clients can select the model or AI agent most appropriate for their needs. KPMG states that the platform will underpin its key client delivery solutions, including the Digital Gateway (Tax), Velocity (Advisory), and Clara, which is KPMG's audit platform. By acting as a central AI hub, KPMG Workbench is expected to simplify working with and managing multiple tools throughout the client engagement process. KPMG Workbench incorporates data sovereignty features, letting clients manage how their data is stored, processed, and governed to meet both local and international regulatory demands. KPMG has also highlighted its ISO 42001 certification for AI Management Systems, noting that KPMG is the first organisation in the world to achieve this accreditation. Every agent and tool within KPMG Workbench is marked with a KPMG "Trusted AI stamp," indicating that it has been assessed against the company's 10 pillar Trusted AI Framework. "Clients tell us that their ability to orchestrate and control their agents in a secure way is becoming their number one concern. They also want a multi-model platform rather than being locked into one provider. Recognising this, and KPMG's own needs as a complex global business, the strategy was to build a foundational AI platform that has sovereign data capabilities and enables our people to integrate AI models into one environment that is embedded in our Trusted AI Framework. With KPMG Workbench, we're combining advanced AI agents with the insight, judgment and deep expertise of our people to deliver smarter solutions for clients, faster and with full confidence in their security and compliance." – David Rowlands, Global Head of AI, KPMG International AI in practice KPMG Workbench aims to facilitate the automation of multi-step processes such as client onboarding and regulatory reporting. The system allows teams to coordinate and share context between multiple specialised agents, which the company says should make it easier to adapt to new business requirements. According to KPMG, clients across different industries have already begun to benefit from the platform. Examples cited include a telecommunications and technology business using the platform's agents and tools to assess and enhance compliance policies, a global bank needing data sovereignty and agent processing to verify customer identities and counteract fraud, and an international retailer seeking to improve back-office productivity through the deployment of a digital workforce. Collaboration with Microsoft The company confirmed that Microsoft's Azure AI Foundry is the foundation for KPMG Workbench, enabling its interoperability and scalability. The evolution of Workbench from a platform for developers to a central hub for AI delivery reflects KPMG's investment in agent-oriented technology. "KPMG Workbench represents a transformative step in AI-driven collaboration, integrating multi-agent intelligence into a centralised platform leveraging Azure AI Foundry. This investment is more than just technological innovation – it's a pivotal move toward the future of the open agentic web. At Microsoft, we are empowering businesses to enrich the employee experience and reinvent customer engagement through AI transformation, and KPMG Workbench is a prime example of that vision coming to life." – Judson Althoff, EVP, Chief Commercial Officer, Microsoft Future availability KPMG confirmed that private versions of KPMG Workbench will be accessible to clients from various industries wishing to develop and manage a digital workforce in line with changing operational needs. "Launching KPMG Workbench is a pivotal milestone in our AI commitment to transforming client delivery and enhancing ways of working across the global organisation. This strategic investment, made in collaboration with Microsoft, reinforces our dedication to creating a leading technology ecosystem in an era of rapid evolution and shifting client needs." – Carl Carande, Global Head of Advisory, KPMG International and Vice Chair, Advisory, KPMG in the US KPMG described Workbench as the foundation of its multi-billion investment in AI and agentic transformation, intended to be a pillar of its future client service solutions. The AI platform is being positioned as central to the organisation's approach to technology adoption and digital service delivery.
