微软发布Copilot与谷歌在商业软件领域展开竞争

Microsoft announced its plan to add artificial intelligence (AI) into its line of office products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook last week.
微软上周宣布了将人工智能嵌入其包括Word、Excel、PowerPoint和Outlook在内Office产品的计划。

The announcement came a day after Google released its own AI tools to be used with Gmail, Google Docs and other products to developers and selected businesses.
微软发布该公告的前一天，Google面向开发者以及部分企业发布了自己的AI工具，它可以跟Gmail、Google Docs以及其它产品配合使用。

Called "Copilot", Microsoft's AI tools will offer writing and input suggestions in these applications. Microsoft said it will speed up content creation and free up workers' time. Copilot will be available for testing by around 20 companies.
微软的AI工具被称为Copilot，它将在这些应用程序中提供写作和输入建议。微软表示，它将加速内容创建并解放员工的时间。Copilot将提供给大约20家公司进行测试。

While Alphabet-owned Google is making progress in AI, Microsoft's early investments in OpenAI have set it apart from its competitors.
尽管Alphabet旗下的谷歌公司在AI产品上获得进展，但微软的早期投资使其与竞争对手拉开了差距。

OpenAI is the creator of ChatGPT which learns from past information to quickly produce human-like writings. Just last week, OpenAI started to release a more powerful version known as GPT-4. The new version, along with the older GPT-3.5, are part of Copilot features, Microsoft said.
OpenAI团队是Chatgpt的创造者，它可以从既往信息中学习，并快速生成类似人类的著作。就在上周，OpenAI团队开始发布了一个更为强大的版本，即GPT-4。微软表示，新版本及其更早的GPT-3.5是Copilot功能的一部分。

Rishi Jaluria is a researcher with the Canadian company RBC. He said the new capabilities, offered through Microsoft's cloud service, are set to increase its business and growth. Jaluria predicts Copilot will "drive more usage of Microsoft Office and increase the separation versus competitors".
Rishi Jaluria是加拿大公司PBC的研究人员。他说，微软基于云服务提供的这些新功能将提高其业务和增长。Jaluria预测，Copilot将“推动Microsoft Office产品的更广泛应用，并加大其与竞争对手的差距。”

Taking notes for you
代做笔记

One of the big updates was in the electronic document, or spreadsheet, program Excel. Microsoft said anyone can describe a calculation they would like in plain text and its AI program would create a spreadsheet. The task often requires the knowledge of trained analysts.
此次最大的更新之一是在电子文档或电子表格程序Excel中。微软称，任何人都可以描述他们在纯文本中想要的计算，其AI程序将创建出相应的电子表格。该任务通常需要用到训练有素的分析师的专业知识。

Jon Friedman, a Microsoft vice president, spoke with Reuters. He said Microsoft's new "business chat" experience is the biggest development last week. He said it can handle tasks across several business programs.
微软副总裁乔恩·弗里德曼接受了路透社的采访。他说，微软新推出的“business chat”体验是上周最大的进展。他说，它可以处理多个商业程序中的任务。

For example, a user can ask, "Tell my team how we updated the product strategy," and the AI will use information from a morning's worth of emails, meetings, and chat records.
例如，用户可以问，“告诉我的团队如何更新产品策略，”AI将利用早晨的电子邮件、会议和聊天记录中的信息。

Making the technology as good as possible and ensuring that its answers are factual are key concerns for Microsoft. Friedman said that is why Copilot is being tested with just some customers before a wider release.
使该技术尽可能出色，并确保其答案正确是微软的关键问题。弗里德曼表示，这就是为什么在更广泛的发布之前，仅与部分用户一起测试Copilot的原因。

An "amazing thing about large language models is they're very confident, and they get things wrong," Friedman said.
弗里德曼表示：“关于大型语言模型的惊人之处是它们非常自信，它们也犯错。”

Friedman said the long-term plan for Microsoft is to develop a more personalized AI experience.
弗里德曼表示，微软的长期规划是开发出更人性化的AI体验。

"We often make people adapt to the machines and systems we have built," Friedman said. "This is a thing that will start to adapt to you."
弗里德曼表示：“我们经常让人类适应我们的机器和系统。这次将是它们开始适应人类。”