The Software Industry Re-Tools With AI
Writers are King When It Comes to Getting the Most From the New Apps
Updated Oct. 22, 2023
Responding to a new hunger for AI, some of the biggest titans in software — including Microsoft, Google and Salesforce — are coming out with new versions of their software suites that will be completely reworked by AI.
The move has been triggered by the staggering popularity of ChatGPT, the wunderkind AI chatbot from OpenAI.
As many know, the bot has stunned the world with its ability to auto-generate clear, concise, intelligent prose in response to virtually any question posed to it.
Moreover, given that ChatGPT is operated via written or spoken word, writers are uniquely positioned to reap maximum utilization of the coming AI changes from Microsoft, Google, Salesforce and others.
The reason: The better you are at writing or spoken word, the more artfully you’ll be able to manipulate the new AI-powered tools — given that optimal performance of the AI hinges on how well you use language.
As more than a billion-and-a-half-plus monthly users of ChatGPT already know, use of the chatbot involves little more than typing-in a question — and in a matter of seconds — getting back a lucid, erudite text response.
That ability to respond to virtually any question has enabled the bot to easily pass bar exams, medical exams, engineering exams and similar.
And that’s just for starters.
ChatGPT, and its underlying software engine, GPT-4, has also been harnessed to auto-generate images and photos, auto-translate text into multiple languages, auto-write and auto-debug computer code and auto-create Web sites.
It’s also been used to auto-create music, auto-explain complex topics, auto-solve math problems, auto-serve as a virtual chat companion — and more.
All of these auto-generated tasks are usually completed in a matter of seconds.
And all are created with nary a complaint.
It’s no wonder the ChatGPT Web site is averaging 1.6 billion visits-per-month, has set a record for creating the fastest-growing user base ever and is expected to generate $1 billion in revenue by the close of 2024, according to ToolTester.com.
In a phrase: ChatGPT has set the world’s hair on fire.
And all the big — and little — guns of traditional software want in.
Their plan: Take the magic of ChatGPT and repurpose it for use with every software app conceivable.
“The reality is every company will undergo an AI transformation to increase productivity, drive efficiency, and deliver incredible customer and employee experiences,” says Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce.
In practice, that means changing the focus of ChatGPT, or software similar to ChatGPT, from attempting to track, analyze and manipulate all the world’s knowledge — and instead focus that same AI on tracking, analyzing and manipulating all the knowledge generated by a specific company or organization.
Essentially: ChatGPT has ingested virtually all the world’s knowledge by reading and cataloging everything it could find that was published on the Internet through September, 2022 — as well as reading and cataloging countless digitized libraries of knowledge.
In contrast, software companies like Microsoft, Google and Salesforce want to use ChatGPT-like AI to ingest all the propriety data held by a specific company — and then use that AI to track, analyze and manipulate that company data in the same ways that ChatGPT can.
The only fly-in-the-ointment: There’s going to be a bit of a wait before all these promised dreams are fully realized.
For example: For the most part, these AI makeovers by Microsoft, Google and Salesforce are still in experimental — or quasi-experimental — form.
Microsoft, for example, is still test-driving a major AI retread of Microsoft 365 among a tiny sampling of its customers — indicating that a release of the fully realized product, dubbed ‘Microsoft Copilot,’ will most likely appear in Q4 2023 or early 2024.
Meanwhile, Salesforce is engaging in a similar AI rework of its sales, service and marketing software suite. And it’s also indicating a similar release timeline for its new AI interface, ‘Salesforce Einstein Copilot.’
And even though Google made waves in late Summer by officially declaring that its ‘Duet AI for Google Workspace’ was generally available, many features of its new AI will still need to be rolled-out over time, according to Aparna Pappu, vice president, Google Workspace.
Even so: If delivery dates for the full-blown AI make-overs are a little hazy, this much is certain: The millions of avid users of these software suites across-the-world are being promised an entire new level of flexibility and creativity once the new AI is firmly embedded.
Also certain: While the marketing claims of the AI makeovers may fall a bit short once the software suites have been fully reworked, the facelifts promise to be spectacular even if they merely match the myriad AI capabilities already documented by more than a billion users of the app that triggered all this AI change: ChatGPT.
Yet another certainty: Given the far-reaching — and oversized — influence that Microsoft, Google and Salesforce have over software users and makers alike, their move into the new AI is sure to trigger the rest of the software industry to continue to get in gear and release their own AI upgrades of their own software packages as soon as possible.
As we get from here-to-there, here’s a rundown on the coming transformation of the offerings from trendsetters Google, Microsoft and Salesforce:
*Microsoft 365 Copilot ($30/user/month, current base of paying users of Microsoft 365: 345 million): As the primary investor in OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT — Microsoft is in the catbird seat when it comes to bringing the magic of ChatGPT to traditional software.
Overall, Microsoft is promising its AI transformation of Microsoft 365 will enable users to converse and work with the suite in a holistic way.
It will also allow users to simultaneously auto-draw data from a number of 365 applications when engaging in a specific task — such as putting together an email, document, presentation, spreadsheet or similar.
And the rework is also promising to essentially trigger the entire Microsoft 365 suite to be much more creative on every level.
With Microsoft Teams, for example, the AI makeover will enable a user to capture a recording of a missed video meeting, ask for a meeting summary in text form, itemize the key points made at the meeting and then highlight the points made at the meeting that the user agrees with or disagrees with — based on what the AI has found in the user’s other data stored in Microsoft 365.
With Microsoft Powerpoint, you’ll be able to chat with Powerpoint to say create a five-slide presentation based on a Word document you have, using relevant stock photos. Not completely satisfied with the result? No problem. You’ll be able to chat with the app some more and ask for edits and revisions repeatedly until you get exactly what you want.
With Excel, creative types who are sometimes put-off by the software’s highly analytic approach will be able to use Excel in a more right-brain way.
Says Microsoft’s Jared Spataro, vice president, modern work and business applications, Microsoft: “What Copilot could do, potentially, is simply make Excel a tool for non-Excel people.
“That’s an enormous shift in the way people work. Being able to ask Excel to identify key trends in sales data and report them in natural language — that could be sent up the chain of command to an executive, say — would be an enormous time-saver to a lot of people and allow you to look smarter, too.”
Meanwhile, with Outlook, users can look forward to chatting with the app to say draft a response to an email, ask for more detail on certain points made in that email and then render an email response in their name using a specific writing tone — such as professional or casual.
Users will also be able to ask Outlook to create text summaries of emails they missed while they were out of the office.
And they’ll also be able to ask the AI to auto-flag the most important emails.
With Word, users will be able to say draft a two-page document — drawing on data from a Word document and data from an Excel file.
And then, users will be able to use chat to request edits of the resulting draft. Those would include requests such as ‘make the third paragraph more concise’ — or ‘change the tone of the document to make the writing sound friendlier.’
With Business Chat, users will be able to get text summaries of the chats — along with references to emails and documents they have in storage that are relevant to any specific topic discussed in those chats.
Business Chat will also generate what the next important milestone will be for a project, what the associated risks are — and what the potential solutions to those risks might be.
*Google Duet AI for Workspace (currently free, final pricing still being worked-out, current base of paying users of Google Workspace: 10 million): As with Microsoft 365 Copilot, Google’s Duet AI for Workspace is also promising that users will be able to work with and manipulate data from many applications simultaneously.
And Google is also promising that users will be able to be much more creative and much more effective overall with their Google Workspace data and applications.
Says Google’s Pappu: “Imagine you’re a financial analyst and you get an email at 5 PM from your boss asking for a presentation on Q3 performance by 8 AM tomorrow — we’ve all been there.
“Instead of scrambling through forecasts in Sheets, P&L Docs, Monthly Business Review Slides and reading emails from the regional sales leads, you’ll soon be able to simply ask Duet AI to do the heavy lifting with a prompt like ‘create a summary of Q3 performance.’
“Duet AI can create a whole new presentation — complete with text, charts, and images — based on your relevant content in Drive and Gmail.”
Bottom-line, Pappu says: “A last-minute request that once called for an all-nighter can now be completed before dinner time.”
As far as what to expect from Google’s AI rework of its specific apps:
With Google Meet — Google’s video meeting software — users will be able to use the AI to punch-up the overall look of the video image of themselves onscreen using AI-powered studio look, studio lighting and studio sound.
Google Meet will also be able to take text meeting notes that can be sent to all attendees and give latecomers to a meeting a ‘summary so far.’
Meanwhile, if you’re too busy to attend the meeting, you’ll still be able to program Google Meet to ‘attend the meeting for me’ and ‘deliver my message to the meeting.’
With Google Chat, you’ll be able to ask questions about Google Chat content, get a text summary of documents shared in the chat and catch-up on missed chats.
“We’re also making it easier to build larger communities across Chat — with support for up to 500,000 participants,” says Google’s Pappu.
With Gmail, you’ll be able to use AI to auto-write emails and email responses.
And Gmail will also be able to auto-generate instant text replies to emails with a single tap.
Programmers who use Google Workspace will be able to task Duet AI to offer basic, auto-codewriting assistance — triggered by a simple text input.
Plus, Google is also promising that Duet AI will analyze the computer code you’re working on and either finish that code for you — or make suggested, performance-enhancing changes.
Even better: The AI will also look for vulnerabilities in the computer code you write and suggest fixes.
*Salesforce Einstein Copilot: (pricing not available, current base of paying users of Salesforce: 150,000): Salesforce’s AI rework-in-progress for its sales, service and marketing software is also promising a more holistic and creative use of all the suite’s apps.
Using Einstein Copilot, for example, you’ll be able to draw on all apps to get an answer to a specific question, for example.
And you’ll be able to use all data from all apps to accomplish specific tasks such as making digital storefronts, drafting custom code, creating data visualizations or providing sales associates with recommended steps to close deals faster.
In terms of the AI’s impact on Salesforce’s specific apps:
With Salesforce Sales, you’ll be able to better research accounts, auto-prep for meetings and update account information.
The AI will also automatically summarize video calls with customers.
Plus, it will also extract highlights, customer sentiment and offer recommended next steps to close a sale.
Sales emails can also be auto-generated with the new AI.
And contract clauses can be automatically drafted and embedded in draft contracts.
With Salesforce Service, you’ll be able to auto-generate emails, SMS messages, live chat and/or social media responses to customers.
And you’ll be able to provide reliable answers to customers — based on all the data that’s stored in your company database.
Service teams will also be able to resolve customer issues faster by using answers auto-generated by the AI.
And they’ll be able to seamlessly integrate those answers into their work-flow and autonomously complete tasks — such as auto-summarizing intricate support cases and auto-generating field work orders.
With Marketing, you’ll be able to auto-generate emails and Web site landing pages.
And customer contact forms can also be forged that automatically populate each customer’s unified profile.
In addition, you’ll also be able to auto-generate follow-up surveys to help increase long-term customer engagement and purchasing.
With Commerce, you’ll be able to auto-generate a digital storefront, auto-manage complex tasks like maintaining multi-product data and auto-create product descriptions in multiple languages.
Plus, all digital storefronts with be automatically optimized for search engine discovery.
And you’ll also be able to edit digital storefront design simply by chatting with Salesforce.
With Code Development, programmers will be able to transform natural language prompts into Apex code, suggest more effective and accurate code and proactively scan for code vulnerabilities – all from within the developer environment.
And with Salesforce’s business intelligence app, Tableau, you’ll be able to quickly go from raw data to actionable insights using a conversational interface.
The kicker to all this new AI enhancement: By early 2024, all of these changes to all the software suites are expected to be fully realized.
As to what we’ll see in say January 2025 — once the blazingly fast evolution of AI matures an additional year and grows ever-more sophisticated: One can only wonder.
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–Joe Dysart is editor of RobotWritersAI.com and a tech journalist with 20+ years experience. His work has appeared in 150+ publications, including The New York Times and the Financial Times of London.