Washington, January 25 (QNA) - Microsoft developed low-cost artificial intelligence (AI) technology solutions that require little computing power and financial resources, and has also developed models that are efficient and cost-effective.

This initiative includes the formation of a new team called GenAI to build what the company calls small linguistic models. The team focuses on creating conversational AI models with few computational requirements compared to current technology, and small language models aim to provide conversational capabilities similar to large language models with lower hardware requirements such as GPT.
This would allow Microsoft's AI products and services to reduce costs and carbon footprint compared to externally developed alternatives, as Microsoft aims to make these AI solutions easily available through its platform.

Microsoft has previously relied heavily on OpenAI in its AI developments, using technologies such as GPT-4 large language model in Bing Chat and the Dall-E 3 image generator in Bing Image Creator.
The GenAI team aims to create AI that matches or exceeds the functionality of models provided by companies, such as OpenAI, while making it specific to small sizes. In contrast, the formation of the GenAI team indicates a potential shift towards a greater degree of autonomy in the AI development.

Microsoft's quest to develop small-scale, affordable AI technology opens new horizons for the company to provide its own solutions, reducing dependence on external companies.
In a related context, Microsoft launched the 3D meetings feature within the Teams platform, and the companys mixed reality platform Mesh came out of the preview stage, and the company integrated it into Teams to allow people to gather in virtual spaces with or without virtual reality (VR) headsets, and the software giant has officially brought the metaverse to the workplace with the full launch of virtual meeting spaces.

Microsoft said that meetings in Mesh give employees a sense of co-presence, even when they are geographically distant, with features like spatial audio that add a sense of immersion The Mesh mixed reality platform experience within Teams is very similar to the enterprise version of AltspaceVR, the social VR platform that Microsoft acquired in 2017 and shut down a year ago.
3D Mesh meetings in Teams work best with VR headsets, as Microsoft currently supports Meta's Quest headset.

Users can participate in 3D virtual meetings, and the spatial audio feature simulates the ability to have private conversations you have in the office by being away from other coworkers in the virtual space. (QNA)