Microsoft Build 2023: Here Are the Key Highlights

Yesterday, Microsoft held its Build 2023 keynote, during which CEO Satya Nadella unveiled several notable announcements. These included the AI copilot stack, the integration of the Bing search experience into ChatGPT, the introduction of Microsoft Fabric, and various other updates.

The company also highlighted its efforts to expand the integration of AI across its applications and services, such as Windows 11 and Microsoft 365. Let's take a closer look at the major announcements from the event.

Windows 11 is getting supercharged with AI Copilot

Microsoft intends to include Copilot, its AI personal assistant, with Windows 11. Copilot is already available in Microsoft's Edge browser, Office apps, and GitHub.

Copilot will be accessible from the taskbar in the new Windows 11 version. Users can access the Copilot sidebar by clicking on it, which allows them to request text summarizing, rewriting, and explanations within any application, as well as alter computer settings.

The feature will be publicly tested next month before being made available to a larger user base.

Bing Becomes ChatGPT's Default Search Experience

Given Microsoft's large investment in OpenAI, OpenAI's choice to make Bing the default search engine in its ChatGPT chatbot is not surprising. Users of ChatGPT Plus will begin to notice citations sourced from Bing being added to the chatbot's responses as of today.

Microsoft is bringing 365 Copilot to Edge

Microsoft intends to add 365 Copilot to Edge by including it in the browser's sidebar. This tool uses the content of the webpage you're currently viewing to help you work on projects in Microsoft 365 programs such as Outlook, Word, Excel, and others.

You can use this tool to write emails, enter data into spreadsheets, produce status updates from conversations, and do other tasks as well. Furthermore, the integration will support upcoming 365 Copilot plug-ins.

Microsoft Fabric: A New Analytics Platform Powered by AI

Microsoft has introduced Microsoft Fabric, a comprehensive platform for data and analytics. At the heart of this platform is Microsoft's OneLake data lake, which can gather data not just from internal sources but also from external ones like Amazon S3, and soon Google Cloud Platform.

The platform offers a diverse set of features, including integration tools, a data engineering platform based on Spark, a real-time analytics platform, and an enhanced Power BI with user-friendly visualization and AI-powered analytics capabilities.

In addition, Microsoft Fabric brings a developer experience that doesn't require coding, simplifying real-time data monitoring and enabling the activation of actions and notifications based on data insights. These tools are seamlessly integrated, and Microsoft has plans to incorporate its AI Copilot into Fabric.

This integration will facilitate the creation of data pipelines, code generation, machine learning model development, and more, making it easier for users to perform these tasks within the platform.