Microsoft’s Azure cloud server unit is set to release a dedicated version of ChatGPT that will run on cloud servers with remote data.
This version is designed to keep the data of individual customers separate from that of others, thus preserving their privacy. The remote server will not communicate with the main ChatGPT system, and as a result, the service is likely to cost up to 10 times more than the current ChatGPT offering.
This move by Microsoft’s Azure cloud server unit aims to attract businesses such as banks, financial services, and healthcare institutions. These industries have hesitated to adopt ChatGPT because their employees could inadvertently disclose sensitive proprietary information to the chatbot.
Recently Samsung has banned its employees from using generative AI utilities like ChatGPT. The decision was made after discovering that sensitive source code was uploaded to the platform. Samsung worries that data transmitted to artificial intelligence platforms such as Bing and Google Bard could be exposed to other users.
Morgan Stanley has already purchased a private ChatGPT service from OpenAI that does not involve Microsoft. The bank’s wealth management division uses the service to enable its employees to ask questions and analyze content in thousands of market research documents owned by the bank.
Reports suggest that Microsoft salespeople are already receiving inquiries from organizations interested in the forthcoming ChatGPT product. The fact that many large customers, including banks, have existing contracts with Azure could be an advantage in convincing them that Microsoft can manage their data securely.
Recent reports have highlighted significant dysfunction and a lack of ambition within Apple’s AI efforts and the Siri chatbot. Apple’s slow decision-making processes and conservative approach to new AI technologies, including large-language models like ChatGPT, have reportedly caused many employees to leave the company.
In contrast, Microsoft’s latest move appears to have leapfrogged Apple by offering a privacy-focused AI chatbot in a ringfenced environment. Apple’s insistence on maintaining high levels of control over its products and services and its uncompromising stance on privacy has reportedly created significant challenges in improving Siri and investing in AI technologies.
Apple has increasingly sought to perform more of Siri’s functions on-device, and the company prefers to have responses pre-written by a team of around 20 writers rather than generated by AI, to maximize privacy and control. This approach has seemingly left Apple out of the AI chatbot race, allowing Microsoft to capitalize on Apple’s preferred privacy credentials in the AI arena.
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