Microsoft Will Be Adding An 'AI' Key To Your Keyboard. Just Because.

Who knows why?

There's nothing like kicking off 2024 with a new series of tech updates. Microsoft's update was particularly useful with the addition of... a key to use an AI language model, just because you're too lazy to find it and click on it. Why'd they decide to do this? I don't know. However, this may prove to be more useful in the future. Microsoft launched Copilot last year, and is now making a key that can help you access it with one click. According to Microsoft, Copilot has the potential to generate entire spreadsheets without human intervention. Copilot is powered by OpenAI's language model, Chat-GPT, (Notably GPT-4), with the goal of integrating automation into workspaces.

In PC Mag's coverage of the new AI key, they highlighted that currently, Copilot relies on cloud-based processing through Microsoft's servers. However, industry discussions hint at Microsoft's ongoing efforts to develop a version of Windows capable of handling the processing locally. While this might appear less significant than the Copilot key, the potential transition from companies managing AI's robust and costly computing power to consumers taking on this role could, according to the report, assist Microsoft in reducing data expenses as it strives to establish itself as a leading force in American AI, in collaboration with OpenAI. Even when it fumbles, as AI often does, the tech titan boldly proclaimed in a Copilot announcement last year that its blunders would be "usefully wrong." The declaration hinted at these mistakes offering users a "head start," though the precise meaning of this assertion remains somewhat elusive.