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close video How will Microsoft grow as result of artificial intelligence?

Defiance ETFs CEO and CIO Sylvia Jablonski provides insight on Microsoft’s earnings and the impact of AI on “Making Money.”

Google and Microsoft, two of the biggest players in the artificial intelligence (AI) space and tech sector rivals, provided updates on their respective AI programs on Tuesday when the companies announced their first-quarter earnings.

Both companies have invested heavily in AI-related research and its applications for the web search, where the two firms are engaged in a particularly tense competition following Microsoft’s addition of AI to its Bing search engine, in addition to cloud storage and more.

Here’s a look at some of the AI-related highlights from the Google and Microsoft first-quarter earnings calls.

AI CHATBOTS COULD BE IMPACTED BY SUPREME COURT’S RULING IN SECTION 230 CASE

Microsoft and OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are among the leading artificial intelligence platforms, and the competition between the tech giants is intensifying. (Jonathan Raa / NurPhoto via Getty Images / File / Getty Images) GOOGLE

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, said that in the first quarter the company "introduced important product updates anchored in deep computer science and AI."

Those improvements are focused on three areas: "Continuing to build up state-of-the-art large language models and make significant improvements across our products to be more helpful to our users. Empowering developers, creators and partners with our tools. And enabling organizations of all sizes to utilize and benefit from our AI advances."

Pichai noted the release of an updated version of the Google Bard AI chatbot earlier this month after it first debuted in March to include coding capabilities that had been requested by users. The company is doing that by incorporating its Pathways Language Model (PaLM) into Bard, as the PaLM is a large language model (LLM) that was trained on a larger dataset that the prior LLM, known as LaMDA.

GOOGLE UNVEILS NEW BARD AI CAPABILITIES FOR CODING

A person holds an iPhone using the Google Bard generative AI language model (chatbot) with prompt entry field. (Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images / File / Getty Images)

"We have since added our PaLM model to make it even more powerful, and Bard can now help people with programming and software development tasks, including code generation. Lots more to come," Pichai said.

He added that PaLM is being incorporated into the new MakerSuite for developers and noted, "It provides a simple way to access our large language models and begin building new generative AI applications quickly. A number of organizations are using our generative AI large language models across Google Cloud platform, Google Workspace and our cybersecurity offerings."

On potential AI-related improvements to Google’s search engine, Pichai didn’t go into detail but said, "We will continue to incorporate generative AI advances to make search better in a thoughtful and deliberate way."

Google is reportedly planning to release new AI tools for search as a means of countering the incorporation of ChatGPT into Microsoft’s Bing search engine. The New York Times reported that the AI search features are being developed by Google under the codename "Magi" and could have an initial rollout next month with additional features in the fall.

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“The worlds most advanced AI models are coming together with the worlds most universal user interface natural language to create a new era of computing,” says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. (AP Photo / Ted S. Warren / File / AP Newsroom) MICROSOFT

"The world’s most advanced AI models are coming together with the world’s most universal user interface – natural language – to create a new era of computing," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. "Across the Microsoft Cloud, we are the platform of choice to help customers get the most value out of their digital spend and innovate for this next generation of AI."

Nadella said Microsoft has more than 2,500 customers using its Azure OpenAI service, which became generally available in January and had GPT-4 incorporated in March.

"We have the most powerful AI infrastructure, and it’s being used by our partner, OpenAI, as well as NVIDIA and leading AI startups like Adept and Inflection to train large models. Our Azure OpenAI Service brings together advanced models, including ChatGPT and GPT-4, with the enterprise capabilities of Azure."

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Nadella called Microsoft 365 Copilot the "future of work" in his opening remarks. Copilot was released last month and appears in Microsoft Office programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook as an AI chatbot that can help draft content and presentations, summarize email threads and automate repetitive tasks.

"Microsoft 365 Copilot combines next generation AI with business data in the Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 applications, removing the drudgery and unleashing the creativity of work," Nadella said. "Copilot works alongside users, embedded in the Microsoft 365 applications millions use every day, and it also powers Business Chat, which uses natural language to surface information and insights based on business content and context."

HOW GOOGLE BECAME CAUTIOUS OF AI AND GAVE MICROSOFT AN OPENING

Microsofts Bing has 100 million daily users and Nadella said that downloads of the search engine have jumped since AI features were incorporated into the tool. (Jonathan Raa / NurPhoto via Getty Images / File / Getty Images)

Microsoft’s Bing has 100 million daily users and Nadella said that downloads of the search engine have jumped since AI features were incorporated into the tool. Specifically, Nadella said that "daily installs of the Bing mobile app have grown [four times] since launch."

"We continue to innovate with first-of-their-kind AI-powered features, including the ability to set the tone of chat and create images from text prompts, powered by Dall-E. Over 200 million images have been created to date," Nadella said.

Nadella also said Microsoft will "share how we are building the most powerful AI platform for developers" at the company’s Build conference, which is scheduled for May 23-25, 2023.Ticker Security Last Change Change % GOOGL ALPHABET INC. 103.85 -2.12 -2.00%MSFT MICROSOFT CORP. 275.42 -6.35 -2.25%

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Storm Eowyn: Strong winds threaten UK ahead of ‘danger to life’ alert and up to 90mph gusts

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Storm Eowyn: Strong winds threaten UK ahead of 'danger to life' alert and up to 90mph gusts

Forecasters are warning of heavy rain along with strong winds on Thursday ahead of Storm Eowyn, which threatens to bring dangerous gusts of up to 90mph.

Coastal areas across much of Wales, southwestern and southern England are covered by a yellow warning between 7am and 6pm on Thursday.

Winds could reach 50-60mph over exposed coasts and hills with the peak times affecting western areas during the morning and eastern areas in the afternoon.

met office yellow warning for 23/01/2025 ahead of Storm Eowyn on 24/01
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A yellow wind warning on Thursday could bring gusts of 50-60mph

It comes ahead of an amber wind alert for some areas of the UK from 6am through to 9pm on Friday, with the Met Office warning there could be “a danger to life” due to flying debris.

Parts of northern England and Scotland are expected to face gusts of up to 60-70mph fairly widely, but 80-90mph along more exposed parts.

Check the latest weather forecast for your area

Met Office amber warning for 24/01/25 ahead of Storm Éowyn
https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2025-01-24
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An amber warning applies between 6am and 9pm on Friday

Met Office yellow and amber warnings ahead of Storm Eowyn on 24/01/2025. Pic: Met Office
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Met Office yellow and amber warnings on Friday ahead of Storm Eowyn

Widespread disruption

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Eowyn is expected to bring “very strong winds and widespread disruption”, according to the Met Office.

There are separate yellow warnings for wind, rain and snow covering various parts of the UK on Friday, with a yellow warning for wind in Scotland continuing until 3pm on Saturday.

Seaham Harbour, County Durham, on Saturday. Pic: PA
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Seaham Harbour in County Durham when Storm Darragh hit in December. Now Storm Eowyn threatens this area on Friday. File pic: PA

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Storm Eowyn set to wreak havoc across UK

Red warnings across Ireland

Meanwhile, a rare, red wind warning has been issued by Ireland’s weather service ahead of the arrival of Storm Eowyn, threatening to bring “severe, damaging and destructive gusts”.

Gale force southerly winds turning to the west are set to bring “extremely destructive gusts in excess of 130kmh [80mph]” on Friday, according to Met Eireann.

The “status red” warnings are in effect across all of Ireland’s 26 counties, throughout Friday morning and into the afternoon for some counties.

Across all counties, Met Eireann warns of “danger to life” conditions, with potential impacts including fallen trees, power outages, dangerous waves on the coast, structural damage and travel disruption.

Red wind warnings have been issued across Ireland for Friday. Pic: Met Eireann
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Red wind warnings have been issued across Ireland for Friday. Pic: Met Eireann

A red warning is only issued for “rare and very dangerous weather conditions”, according to the forecaster.

Meanwhile, a “status orange” warning – the same level as “amber” in the UK – also applies to all of Ireland’s counties between 2am and 5pm on Friday.

High Atlantic swells at Fanore, County Clare in the Republic of Ireland as Storm Jocelyn hits. Efforts to restore power to customers after Ireland was battered by Storm Isha are continuing, with warnings of further disruption to come from Storm Jocelyn. The latest storm is expected to bring gusts of up to 65mph from around 4pm. Picture date: Tuesday January 23, 2024.
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Almost exactly a year after Storm Jocelyn battered Fanore in County Clare, the same area is covered by a red warning ahead of Storm Eowyn on Friday. File pic: PA

Met Eireann said it will start to become “very stormy” on Thursday night, before the centre of Storm Eowyn tracks just off the northwest coast on Friday morning.

All of Northern Ireland, covered by the Met Office, is also under amber warnings for wind on Friday.

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Sky News weather producer Chris England warned that parts of the UK also face rain and snow.

“Expect up to 4cm (1.6in) of rain over the Welsh hills, up to 10cm (4in) of snow over the hills of northern England and southern Scotland for a time and up to 25cm (10in) of snow over the hills further north,” he said.

“Drifting and blizzard conditions are likely, given the strong winds.”

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Trump memecoins set to be sued — to what end?

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Trump memecoins set to be sued — to what end?

Lawyers are counting on a flood of lawsuits to pile up against $TRUMP, but what hope do they have in court?

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CFTC’s Pham sweeps agency’s top brass days after Trump appointment

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CFTC’s Pham sweeps agency’s top brass days after Trump appointment

CFTC acting Chair Caroline Pham appointed an official to handle the agency’s crypto outreach.

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