Microsoft Germany has announced that it will introduce GPT-4, the latest in its series of Large Language Models (LLMs), next week. The announcement was made during a hybrid information event entitled “AI in Focus – Digital Kickoff” on 9 March 2023, where four Microsoft Germany employees discussed LLMs and their Azure-OpenAI offering. Andreas Braun, CTO of Microsoft Germany and Lead Data & AI STU, mentioned that GPT-4’s release was imminent and that it would be multimodal, offering video capabilities.
Braun called LLMs a “game changer” as they enable machines to understand natural language, which was previously only readable and understandable by humans. He noted that the technology has advanced to the point where it works in all languages, allowing users to ask a question in one language and receive an answer in another. With multimodality, Microsoft(-OpenAI) aims to make the models more comprehensive.
During the event, Marianne Janik, CEO of Microsoft Germany, spoke about the disruptive potential of AI in companies and emphasized its value creation potential. She noted that the current AI development and ChatGPT were an “iPhone moment” and that it was not about replacing jobs but about doing repetitive tasks differently than before. Janik recommended that companies form internal “competence centres” to train employees in the use of AI and bundle ideas for projects.
Janik also emphasized that Microsoft did not use customers’ data to train models and spoke of a “democratization” of AI, which refers to its immediate usability within the framework of the Microsoft product range, in particular, their broad availability through the integration of AI in the Azure platform, Outlook, and Teams. Janik encouraged companies to consider the migration of old darlings and to explore exciting new professions that are emerging as a result of AI’s enrichment with new possibilities.
