Microsoft is betting big About artificial intelligence.company Announcing “Phase 3” of relationship with Open AI — author of Chat GPT Dall-E 2, among other impressive/related AI demos, included “multi-billion dollar investments over several years” and Microsoft’s commitment to become the exclusive cloud provider for AI companies. will be
Taken in isolation, this is a natural extension of existing economic ties, but in the context of the brutal tech layoffs of the past two weeks, Big cuts to Microsoft’s own augmented and virtual reality team — This seems as good a sign as Microsoft believes offering AI-enabled services is a much more viable future than the Metaverse.
XR is difficult
In addition to cutting the company’s HoloLens mixed reality hardware team, Microsoft has canceled at least two VR software efforts. First, AltspaceVR, a social VR platform Acquired by Microsoft When I started dabbling in mixed reality experiences in 2017, Closed in MarchThe rest of the employees will be redirected to their next task. microsoft meshAs AltspaceVR explains on their blog: Microsoft Mesh is aimed at enterprise customers, and it looks like it could serve as a metaverse version of the company’s existing Teams app if Microsoft still has enough interest in launching it.
Second, Microsoft Mixed Reality Tool Kit (MRTK)“provides a set of components and features used to accelerate cross-platform MR app development in Unity”. Essentially, it’s a tool for building better mixed reality experiences for any device that can run Unity VR.according to Tweet from former employeeMicrosoft fired the entire team responsible for creating MRTK.
meta proved There is a cost to doing anything in mixed reality. Creating the hardware, software, and ideally the physical infrastructure needed to deliver the metaverse experiences people want to use on a regular basis is inherently risky. It’s also already stigmatized, and I don’t know if anyone will create an app, game, or social experience that overcomes it. It may help develop VR technology, but it may not be worth the effort to keep up with Meta.
Oddly enough, AI is more certain
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella letter to employees Trying to justify layoffs at Microsoft, he sees artificial intelligence as “the next major wave of computing.” He also suggests that Microsoft’s long-term health requires a shift in priorities. “These are the hard choices we have made throughout our 47-year history to remain a key company in this industry that will not tolerate those who do not adapt to platform changes,” he wrote. .It’s easy to forget, but it was directed by Nadella Withdrawal from Microsoft’s smartphone businessHe knows how to make the decision to stop spending money on categories that competitors are still eagerly pursuing.
The recently expanded OpenAI partnership is clearly a priority for Microsoft. AI and yet to come AI-enabled platforms could be the future of Microsoft’s business, so instead of spending more money on mixed reality technology, focus on integrating and supporting popular AI products. I’m putting
The processing power required to respond to requests to ChatGPT is expensive, and Microsoft has invested heavily in cloud operations. Azure it can help. Some believe ChatGPT is the future of search. Microsoft is reportedly planning to use language learning models. Create more natural responses to BingChatGPT and Dall-E 2 are widely believed to be able to replace routine business writing and Photoshop tasks, and Microsoft is also considering integrating OpenAI’s products. to Microsoft Office.
The company clearly sees an opportunity in AI and is already well positioned to capitalize on it. Google is reportedly scrambling To keep up with OpenAI advancements, Microsoft is only asking for more certainty, leaving the job safety and peace of mind of its former employees untouched.
