Microsoft expands ChatGPT access as rumored investment in OpenAI

Microsoft Corp says it’s expanding access to hugely popular software from OpenAI, a startup it’s supporting whose futuristic ChatGPT chatbot has attracted Silicon Valley.

Microsoft says the startup’s technology, which it has so far previewed for its cloud customers in a program called Azure OpenAI Services, is now widely available, an difference is expected to bring a new wave of use.

The news comes as Microsoft has considered buying an additional $1 billion stake in OpenAI that it announced in 2019, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. News site Semafor reported earlier this month that Microsoft could invest $10 billion; Microsoft declined to comment on any potential deals.

Public interest in OpenAI increased after ChatGPT was released in November, a text-based chatbot that can compose prose, poetry or even computer command code. ChatGPT powered by generation artificial intelligencesuggests new content after training on massive amounts of data — technology that Microsoft is allowing more subscription customers to use.

ChatGPT itself, not just its underlying technology, will soon be available through Microsoft’s cloud, it said in a blog post.

Microsoft says it is testing customer applications to minimize the possibility of software abuse, and that its filters can screen for harmful content that users may enter or technology may generate. .

The business potential of such software has attracted huge venture capital investments in startups producing this software, at a time when capital has been exhausted. Some companies are already using this technology to create marketing content or demonstrate how they can negotiate cable bills.

Microsoft says CarMax, KPMG and others are using their Azure OpenAI service. The company’s press release quoted vice president Al Jazeera as saying the service can help news organizations summarize and translate content.