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NDTV
2 days ago
- Business
- NDTV
ChatGPT Will Soon Shop Online, Make Meal Planning And Presentations
OpenAI is rolling out new options for chatbot ChatGPT to carry out a variety of increasingly complicated tasks on a user's behalf, part of its push to bring so-called AI agents to the mainstream. ChatGPT agent, set to be unveiled during a livestreamed event on Thursday, is designed to streamline personal and professional projects, such as planning a meal and ordering ingredients for it online, or creating a slideshow for a business meeting. The tool works through OpenAI's flagship chatbot and combines the capabilities of two AI services it rolled out earlier this year: Operator, which can browse, type and click on the internet much in the way a human would; and Deep Research, which is meant to handle time-consuming online research. The San Francisco-based company said the agent features will be available immediately to its paid Pro, Plus and Team subscribers, with plans to release it later this summer to other enterprise and education customers. Some of the details of the software were previously reported by the Information. A growing number of tech companies, including OpenAI backer Microsoft Corp. and rival Anthropic, are focusing on agents, or AI software that can complete multistep tasks for users with minimal supervision. OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman previously said agents will be "the next giant breakthrough" for AI. The hope is that such tools can save users time and thereby live up to the long-held promise that AI will make people more productive. For now, however, the software can still be frustrating and slow. In a demonstration of the ChatGPT agent this week, Neel Ajjarapu, OpenAI's product manager for the software, gave the chatbot a detailed prompt: Browse Etsy for vintage-style lamps that are under a couple hundred dollars and available with free shipping, then put the best-looking items in his online shopping cart and provide a URL for each one. OpenAI has also experimented with using the tool to make presentations and PowerPoints, Ajjarapu said, though he cautioned it's more for making "very early rough drafts" of presentations people can then refine. Microsoft, the company that makes PowerPoint, also offers AI tools to help professionals draft presentations. Ajjarapu said the AI model that powers the tool uses a computer and web browser to complete assignments. It can also take in feedback from the user while a task is underway and alter its approach, he said. While users are accustomed to chatting in nearly real time with ChatGPT, it can take much longer - several minutes at least - for the chatbot to complete agent-like tasks. AI agents present new safety and security risks, given the potential for AI to make mistakes or be misused by bad actors. The company said ChatGPT agent is meant to turn down some tasks, including those related to finances or legal advice. There are also a number of actions the tool will seek permission for before carrying out, including making purchases, the company said. For some tasks, such as writing emails, the service will require a user to supervise it. As with the launches of Operator and Deep Research, the company acknowledged its latest agent effort still needs work. "It is far from perfect," said OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil during the demonstration. "But I think if we had gone back six months ago or 12 months ago and said this was going to be possible today, we would have been pretty excited about it." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT agent to shop online, create slides for users
OpenAI is rolling out new options for chatbot ChatGPT to carry out a variety of increasingly complicated tasks on a user's behalf, part of its push to bring so-called AI agents to the mainstream. ChatGPT agent, set to be unveiled during a livestreamed event on Thursday, is designed to streamline personal and professional projects, such as planning a meal and ordering ingredients for it online, or creating a slideshow for a business meeting. The tool works through OpenAI's flagship chatbot and combines the capabilities of two AI services it rolled out earlier this year: Operator, which can browse, type and click on the internet much in the way a human would; and Deep Research, which is meant to handle time-consuming online research. The San Francisco-based company said the agent features will be available immediately to its paid Pro, Plus and Team subscribers, with plans to release it later this summer to other enterprise and education customers. Some of the details of the software were previously reported by the Information. A growing number of tech companies, including OpenAI backer Microsoft Corp. and rival Anthropic, are focusing on agents, or AI software that can complete multistep tasks for users with minimal supervision. OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman previously said agents will be 'the next giant breakthrough' for AI. The hope is that such tools can save users time and thereby live up to the long-held promise that AI will make people more productive. For now, however, the software can still be frustrating and slow. In a demonstration of the ChatGPT agent this week, Neel Ajjarapu, OpenAI's product manager for the software, gave the chatbot a detailed prompt: Browse Etsy for vintage-style lamps that are under a couple hundred dollars and available with free shipping, then put the best-looking items in his online shopping cart and provide a URL for each one. OpenAI has also experimented with using the tool to make presentations and PowerPoints, Ajjarapu said, though he cautioned it's more for making 'very early rough drafts' of presentations people can then refine. Microsoft, the company that makes PowerPoint, also offers AI tools to help professionals draft presentations. Ajjarapu said the AI model that powers the tool uses a computer and web browser to complete assignments. It can also take in feedback from the user while a task is underway and alter its approach, he said. While users are accustomed to chatting in nearly real time with ChatGPT, it can take much longer — several minutes at least — for the chatbot to complete agent-like tasks. AI agents present new safety and security risks, given the potential for AI to make mistakes or be misused by bad actors. The company said ChatGPT agent is meant to turn down some tasks, including those related to finances or legal advice. There are also a number of actions the tool will seek permission for before carrying out, including making purchases, the company said. For some tasks, such as writing emails, the service will require a user to supervise it. As with the launches of Operator and Deep Research, the company acknowledged its latest agent effort still needs work. 'It is far from perfect,' said OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil during the demonstration. 'But I think if we had gone back six months ago or 12 months ago and said this was going to be possible today, we would have been pretty excited about it.'
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Bloomberg
Microsoft's Copilot Challenge: 900 Million ChatGPT Downloads
Tyson Jominy routinely summons Microsoft Corp.'s AI assistant by tapping the Copilot key on his computer. Not because he means to. He's actually aiming for what was once the Control key and is annoyed to see Copilot pop up on-screen. For his personal AI needs, Jominy would rather consult ChatGPT on his smartphone, or Grok, which helps him make sense of the rapid-fire stream of posts on X. Jominy, who manages teams working in data and analytics, has used Microsoft Copilot at work, but he has no interest in using it off the clock.
Mint
09-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Microsoft Touts $500 Million in AI Savings While Slashing Jobs
(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. is keen to show employees how much AI is transforming its own workplace, even as the company terminates thousands of personnel. During a presentation this week, Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff said artificial intelligence tools are boosting productivity in everything from sales and customer service to software engineering, according to a person familiar with his remarks. Althoff said AI saved Microsoft more than $500 million last year in its call centers alone and increased both employee and customer satisfaction, according to the person, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal matter. The company is also starting to use AI to handle interactions with smaller customers, Althoff said. This effort is nascent, but already generating tens of millions of dollars, he said. Microsoft declined to comment. Tech executives have been increasingly vocal about the potential for AI to automate labor currently performed by humans. Salesforce Inc. has said 30% of internal work at the company is being handled by AI, allowing it to reduce hiring for some roles. Executives at Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. have said significant chunks of code are now being written with AI. At Microsoft, AI generated 35% of the code for new products, accelerating launch times, Althoff said. The company's GitHub Copilot is a leader in the market for AI coding tools and has 15 million users, Microsoft said in April. AI implementation has fueled replacement anxiety for many workers, particularly in the tech industry. Microsoft has announced cuts of about 15,000 employees this year, with a wave of layoffs last week targeting customer-facing roles like sales. Althoff stressed to employees that AI could make them more effective as sellers. Through the use of Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant, each salesperson is finding more leads, closing deals quicker and generating 9% more revenue, he said. --With assistance from Matt Day. More stories like this are available on
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First Post
02-07-2025
- Business
- First Post
Microsoft sacking 9,000 employees in second major layoff after cutting 6,000 jobs in May
Microsoft Corp. has started a new round of job cuts affecting as many as 9,000 employees, marking its second major wave of layoffs this year as the tech giant looks to rein in costs amid hefty investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure read more A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, on March 21, 2025. Reuters File Microsoft Corp. has started a new round of job cuts affecting as many as 9,000 employees, marking its second major wave of layoffs this year as the tech giant looks to rein in costs amid hefty investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. According to a Bloomberg report, citing a company spokesperson, the cuts will impact less than 4% of Microsoft's global workforce and will span across across teams, geographies and tenure. The move is aimed at streamlining operations and reducing layers of management, the spokesperson added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace,' Bloomberg quoted the spokesperson as saying. Microsoft's latest round of layoffs, first reported by Bloomberg, is expected to impact thousands of employees this July, with a focus on sales staff and divisions such as Xbox. This follows a previous round of cuts in May, which affected around 6,000 workers, primarily in product and engineering roles. As of June 2024, Microsoft employed approximately 228,000 people, including 45,000 in sales and marketing. The company often announces organisational changes and team restructurings near the close of its fiscal year in June. According to a Reuters report, the Windows maker had pledged $80 billion in capital spending for its fiscal year 2025. However, the soaring cost of scaling its AI infrastructure has weighed on its margins, with its June quarter cloud margin expected to shrink from last year, added the report. Big Tech peers, which are investing heavily in artificial intelligence, have also announced job cuts. Facebook parent Meta earlier this year said it would trim about 5% of its 'lowest performers', while Alphabet's Google has also laid off hundreds of employees in the past year. Amazon has also cut jobs across its business segments, most recently in its books division. The company had earlier laid off employees in its devices and services unit, and communications staff. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Economic uncertainties and rising costs have triggered layoffs across sectors in Corporate America, as companies rush to streamline operations and hedge against further cost pressures. With inputs from agencies
