Technologies

Microsoft Introduces AI-Powered ‘Copilot’ for Word, Outlook and More

Microsoft 365 Copilot will work in apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more.

Just a month after announcing artificial intelligence integration with its search engine Bing and browser Edge, Microsoft is introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot, a tool that’ll work with you in its collection of apps including Excel, PowerPoint, Word and more. In a blog post on Thursday, Microsoft said the new AI tool will increase creativity and productivity.

«Copilot gives you a first draft to edit and iterate on — saving hours in writing, sourcing, and editing time. Sometimes Copilot will be right, other times usefully wrong — but it will always put you further ahead,» Jared Spataro, an executive vice president at Microsoft, wrote of how the tool will work in Word.

Generative AI technologies can create drafts of documents or emails that are useful, but they’re also prone to problems like «hallucinations,» fabricated responses that sound plausible but are inaccurate.

The Microsoft 365 Copilot can also create PowerPoint presentations and Excel data visualization with a prompt, Spataro wrote. It’ll also draft email responses and summarize long email threads in Outlook.

Microsoft 365 copilot is currently being tested by 20 partners, though it’ll be available «more broadly in the coming months,» Microsoft said in a separate blog post.

The tech giant also announced Business Chat, which uses AI across your Microsoft apps to aggregate information and return it in response to a written prompt.

When it unveiled the new Bing in February, Microsoft promised to integrate AI into more of its products. The company is among a number of businesses racing to bring new AI capabilities to its services. Google earlier this week said it’s adding AI tools to its Workspace apps, including generative writing features in Gmail and Docs. Facebook parent Meta is experimenting with AI-powered chat on WhatsApp and Messenger, and Grammarly is launching an AI feature to craft email messages, social media posts and more.

The ability to use AI to summarize or synthesize within commonly used apps could have significant impacts on workflow, Rowan Curran, an analyst at Forrester, said in an email to CNET.

«Having capabilities to generate a summarization of a white paper into a blog post and the ability to do it within your core productivity app reduces the friction around integrating these tools into workflows, because the user doesn’t have to go to a different tool to use them,» he wrote.

On Tuesday, Microsoft confirmed that Bing is using OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.

Technologies

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Might Come in 5G and 4G Cellular Models

If the rumor proves true, the 5G Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 that debuted last fall.

Samsung’s next high-end Galaxy Watch could support faster 5G speeds, but if this leak is true, it will depend on where you live. The rumored Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 might come in 5G and 4G cellular models, with availability for each smartwatch depending on the country.

According to the Dutch website Galaxy Club (and spotted by SamMobile), Samsung’s servers may have revealed a series of model numbers that point to 5G, 4G and Wi-Fi-enabled editions of the next Galaxy Watch Ultra, which would succeed the original model that debuted in 2024.

A representative for Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Galaxy Club website speculates that the 5G edition would be sold in the US and Korean markets, while the 4G edition would sell in the rest of the world. In the US, a 5G version of the Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3, which debuted last fall. The 4G edition would have broader compatibility worldwide, since the earlier network is far more established.

It will likely be a few months until we hear anything official about the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Samsung typically unveils its new watches in the summer alongside its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip foldable phones. Last year, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, but otherwise left the prior 2024 Ultra in the lineup for those looking for a larger 47mm smartwatch.

Technologies

2 Cases Show Supreme Court Isn’t Holding ISPs Responsible for Piracy

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 8, #1032

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 8, No. 1032.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is kind of tough. The purple category is a fun one, once you see the connection. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: In the group.

Green group hint: Appearance details.

Blue group hint: Often found in gyms.

Purple group hint: They help you see.