Microsoft launches generative AI tools for developers

Microsoft has launched new tools for developers to integrate generative artificial intelligence into their business software, as Big Tech races to commercialise the nascent technology.

The US tech group’s move centres on so-called “plug-ins”, which are used to connect its Microsoft 365 Copilot — a generative AI service embedded in its productivity and collaboration software — with a customer’s other software applications.

Microsoft on Tuesday said the tools could help streamline routine back-office work by breaking down the boundaries between all of the different software applications used by businesses.

The announcement comes at the start of Microsoft’s annual developer conference and follows similar moves by Google and IBM earlier this month, as companies rush to open up generative AI to developers and embed the technology into the workplace.

Using the plug-ins, Microsoft said other software developers would be able to allow data held in their applications to be drawn into a single “graph”, or semantic structure, inside Microsoft’s software. From there, it could be fed into the large language models used in generative AI, enabling the technology to generate insights or recommend actions.

The connections will also make it possible for the AI to launch an action in another software program, for instance by deciding when an expense report needs to be generated or a ticket should be filed with the IT service desk.

However, Microsoft said a person would always have to approve actions before they are carried out to make sure humans remained in control.

Rajesh Jha, executive vice-president of experiences and devices at Microsoft, said the technology would reduce the amount of routine work that takes up a large portion of many people’s days, as they are forced to switch between applications, emails and meetings to complete work.

The move could make generative AI the foundation of “the operating system of the future” for businesses, said Ritu Jyoti, an analyst at IDC.

She said the plug-ins could one day be used to simplify tasks such as approving an expense claim or optimising a company’s supply chain. Developers were also likely to adopt the technology to streamline many different work processes in areas such as corporate IT and human resources.

The spate of developer announcements shows a new battle has broken out in generative AI, with the companies “all racing to provide the same type of [AI] capabilities to developers as quickly as possible”, said Rowan Curran, an analyst at Forrester Research.

The tools were intended to turn the technology from a standalone product, such as a chatbot, into an “ingredient” that could be used to power other software applications, he added.

The announcement of the new software connectors also marks the latest step in Microsoft’s effort to turn its Teams collaboration service into a central hub for office workers.

Teams will increasingly act as the control point for digital work processes, throwing down a challenge to rival makers of collaboration software such as Google and Salesforce, which owns Slack.

The speed at which tech companies were racing to integrate generative AI into other applications and services like this was likely to cause upheaval in many of the most widely used forms of business software, said Curran.

“It’s unclear what the landscape of productivity tools is going to look like in a year or a year and a half,” he added.