Big UC News from Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta, WhatsApp and Dubber

Microsoft Launches Copilot for Finance, While Copilot in OneDrive is Coming Soon

Microsoft has announced Microsoft Copilot for Finance, empowering businesses with finance-specific, next-gen AI capabilities.

Now in public preview, Copilot for Finance integrates with financial systems like Dynamics 365 and SAP, as well as thousands of bespoke Copilot Studios.

Emily He, Corporate Vice President of Business Applications at Microsoft, wrote in an accompanying blog post:

Microsoft is introducing a solution to help finance teams reclaim time and stay on top of the critical decisions that can impact business performance. Microsoft Copilot for Finance is a new Copilot experience for Microsoft 365 that unlocks AI-assisted competencies for financial professionals right from within productivity applications they use every day.”

It offers role-specific workflow automation, guided actions, and recommendations in Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 applications. This streamlines tasks, meaning teams can focus on steering the organisation towards success.

In other Microsoft and Copilot news, Copilot in OneDrive will begin rolling out in late April 2024. The new tool will allow users to quickly retrieve information from files in their OneDrive.

Available for work and school customers with a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license, Copilot in OneDrive will be able to accessible from OneDrive for web and file viewer in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive.

Users can get information and insights from their files by using prompts, such as “What were the total beverage sales last week? Put response in a table view by day” or “What are the pros and cons of project Moonshot?”. To find a file using natural language, users can creatively ask prompts such as “What files should I read to get started on project SkyDance?”.

Elon Musk Sues OpenAI, Claims It Prioritises Profit Over ‘Humanity’

Elon Musk has filed a suit against OpenAI and its Chief Executive Officer, Sam Altman, accusing both of prioritising profit ahead of its foundational mission of benefitting humanity.

The X owner, world’s richest man, and founding OpenAI board member filed the lawsuit last Thursday in San Francisco. He alleged that OpenAI’s investment deal with tech giant Microsoft, which has invested around $13 billion in the AI startup over the past four years, undermined its founding agreement.

The lawsuit claims that OpenAI is currently developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), an iteration of AI capable of performing various tasks at or surpassing human intelligence levels for profit rather than the good of humanity.

“OpenAI Inc has been transformed into a closed-source, de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft,” the suit alleges. “Under its new board, it is not just developing but is actually refining an AGI to maximise profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity.”

Meta Details WhatsApp’s Interoperability Plan

Meta has explained how WhatsApp will preserve its end-to-end encrypted messaging while remaining interoperable with third-party messaging services.

Although accelerated by the European Union introducing its Digital Markets Act (DMA) for stricter regulation of designated messaging services, or digital “gatekeepers”, WhatsApp has been developing a solution enabling third-party interoperability for two years.

Third-party providers must sign an agreement to interoperate with Messenger and WhatsApp before it can be implemented. While the company encourages using WhatsApp’s Signal protocol for encryption, it will accept other protocols if they meet the same security standards.

With the EU’s new rules coming into force today, Thursday, March 7, this means that Meta “must be ready to enable interoperability with other services within three months of receiving a request”, as dictated by the DMA. However, Brouwer cautions that turning on interoperability might take longer than three months before it’s ready for public use.

The DMA’s requirements also stipulate support for one-on-one chats and file sharing, including images, videos, or voice messages, in the initial year of the new regulation. Over time, these requirements will progressively expand to encompass group chats and calls.

Dubber Suspends CEO After Finding Accounts Anomaly

Dubber has suspended CEO and Managing Director Steve McGovern after uncovering a financial anomaly in its accounts.

The discovery was made during the audit review process for Dubber’s half-year accounts, meaning Dubber had to notify the market that it was attempting to find $26.6 million, which was believed to be held in a term deposit account.

Dubber’s preliminary investigation found that the fund may have been used for “other purposes”.

In a statement from the Board of Directors delivered to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Dubber said:

As part of the audit review process for its 31 December 2023 half-year accounts, the Company has become aware of inconsistencies in respect of funds that have been held on behalf of the Company by a third-party trustee. A preliminary investigation by the Company has uncovered that funds, purported to have be held in a term deposit account, may have been applied for other purposes and are not currently available to the Company.”

Roughly $3.4 million of these funds have been recovered so far, but Dubber is actively pursuing avenues to recoup the remaining balance. Dubber has referred the matter to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) without purporting any allegations of wrongdoing at this time.

Meanwhile, Dubber’s Executive Director, Peter Pawlowitsch, has been named as Acting CEO during this period.



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