December update
Happy Holiday Season everyone!
In the constantly evolving world of technology, there are no limits to innovation. It is crucial for tech enthusiasts and businesses to keep up with the latest advancements. Among the industry leaders in this dynamic landscape, Microsoft remains at the forefront, reshaping the future of computing and revolutionizing how we engage with technology. In this monthly insight issue, we will break down the exciting advancements from Microsoft in December into easily understandable pieces of information.
Business Change
As the year comes to an end, Microsoft Teams is rolling out exciting new updates that will enhance collaboration, streamline communication, and empower frontline managers.
Exciting new meeting templates now included in the Outlook Teams add-in!
Rolling out
New meeting templates for Virtual Appointment, Webinar, and Town hall are available in the Teams meeting dropdown menu in the Calendar tab in Outlook with the Outlook Teams add-in enabled. With just a few clicks, organisers can now effortlessly set up these dynamic teams meeting scenarios. These events will seamlessly appear on both your Outlook and Teams calendars. Stay organised and supercharge your collaboration with these powerful new features!
Empowering Frontline Managers in Microsoft Teams Shifts App!
Rolling out
Microsoft is giving frontline managers the ability to take charge and unlock a whole new level of control through their shifts settings page. Frontline managers will gain the ability to enable and disable swap shift requests, offer shift equest and/or time off requests for their teams. Giving them the power to proactively manage their team more effectively.
Walkie Talkie: automatically listen to multiple channels
Rolling out
Say goodbye to the hassle of switching between channels – now you can effortlessly listen to multiple channels at once. With Walkie Talkie, you can connect to up to 5 of your favorite channels in multi-channel mode, allowing you to stay in the loop and never miss an important message. Plus, initiating push-to-talk transmissions has never been easier. Get ready to experience crystal clear and secure voice communication over the cloud with Microsoft Teams: Walkie Talkie!
FITTS is a Microsoft Modern Work Solutions partner. We have helped many customers with the change to hybrid work over the last few years discovering and enabling the right workspace for you. Find out more about what Microsoft Teams can do for your organisation >> Microsoft Teams – FITTS
Technology
In this section, we’ll be diving into the exciting updates coming to AI this December. With the recent announcements at the highly anticipated Microsoft Ignite 2023 event, the AI landscape is about to get even more powerful and accessible!
Introducing the Next Generation of AI: GPT-4 Turbo and GPT-3.5 Turbo-1106 on Azure OpenAI Service!
Launched
At the highly anticipated Microsoft Ignite 2023 event, the global availability of GPT-4 Turbo and GPT-3.5 Turbo-1106 was unveiled on Azure OpenAI Service.
But that’s not all! Alongside these remarkable AI models, Azure OpenAI is proud to launch three new regions: Norway East, South India, and West US. With 14 regions, customers now have unparalleled access to the most advanced generative AI models globally.
So, what makes GPT-4 Turbo so special? This powerhouse is equipped with an extensive knowledge base, keeping up with world events up until April 2023. With a remarkable context window of 128k, your applications can now benefit from a wealth of custom data tailored specifically to your needs. Imagine the possibilities of leveraging techniques like RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) to take your projects to new heights.
The best part? GPT-4 Turbo is available to all Azure OpenAI customers right now.
Read more > Azure OpenAI Service Launches GPT-4 Turbo and GPT-3.5-Turbo-1106 Models – Microsoft Community Hub
Building Trust, Ensuring Safety: New AI Safety & Responsible AI features announced in Azure OpenAI Service at Ignite 2023
Launched
Microsoft have announced a range of new AI safety and responsible AI features that will safeguard your experience.
With the incredible jailbreak risk detection feature, this advanced technology can detect any potential security breaches and take immediate action to keep your data safe and secure. But that’s not all! they’re also introducing the protected material detection feature. Say goodbye to worries about inappropriate or sensitive content. This feature ensures that only appropriate and relevant information is shared, giving you peace of mind.
They are giving you more control than ever before. Microsoft expanded customer control configurations allow you to customize your AI experience according to your specific needs. You can now tailor the service to suit your preferences and requirements.
But wait, there’s more to come! Stay tuned for Microsoft’s upcoming asynchronous modified content filter. This cutting-edge technology will soon be available in public preview, providing even more protection against the output of known natural language content and code.
These exciting new features build upon their existing content filters and AI safety mechanisms, taking the security of LLM deployments to the next level. Your data and information will be safeguarded like never before, giving you complete peace of mind.
So, get ready to experience the future of AI safety and responsible AI with the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.
Unleashing the Power of Generative AI: Azure AI Studio Leads the Way
Launched
Developers worldwide have been eagerly exploring generative AI as a driving force for innovation. However, navigating the complexities of prompt engineering, vector search engines, the retrieval augmented generation (RAG) pattern, and integration with Azure OpenAI Service can be daunting. Well, fret no more! Microsoft have announced the public preview of Azure AI Studio, a state-of-the-art platform designed to make generative AI application development a breeze. Picture this: leveraging the power of OpenAI models like GPT4 and a plethora of cutting-edge models and services, all at your fingertips.
With Azure AI Studio, you are empowered to explore, build, test, and deploy your AI innovations at scale. We’re talking about turbocharging your journey from brilliant idea to real-world impact. Whether you’re creating custom copilots, supercharging search capabilities, revolutionizing call center solutions, developing amazing bots, or crafting bespoke applications, Azure AI Studio has your back.
This unified platform is tailor-made for AI developers like you. It seamlessly integrates pre-built services and models, offers prompt orchestration and evaluation, ensures content safety, and provides responsible AI tools for privacy, security, and compliance.
The future of AI is here, and it’s more powerful and accessible than ever before. So, get ready to unleash the power of generative AI and explore the potential of Azure AI. Contact us to learn more and embark on an exciting journey of AI innovation.
Thank you for reading our Microsoft Monthly Insight blog, find more information at Resources – FITTS
