According to two individuals with knowledge of the situation, Microsoft is preventing its employees from accessing Perplexity AI.
Perplexity AI is a major customer of Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. It offers a search engine powered by AI chatbots that provide conversational responses.
This service utilizes Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI, which allows companies such as Walmart and JPMorgan Chase to incorporate generative AI into their own operations and products.
Additionally, on Tuesday, Microsoft revealed a $1.1 billion agreement with Coca-Cola, including services involving Azure OpenAI.
Many companies impose restrictions on their employees’ access to AI tools, but Microsoft tends to be more lenient with its partners. In the past, Microsoft accidentally blocked OpenAI’s ChatGPT from being used on its employees’ devices.
According to reporters, Microsoft does have restrictions in place for certain AI tools such as Google’s Gemini chatbot, which are not allowed on employee devices.
Similar policies can be found in other companies as well. Amazon’s internal policy regarding the use and interaction with third-party generative AI, which was seen by reporters, warns employees that the companies providing generative AI services may claim ownership or require a license for any input made by employees using tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
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