The artificial intelligence (AI) scene is starting to steadily pick up momentum ever since the revelation that was Chat-GPT, with Microsoft beginning to add its recently upgraded Bing search engine to its Windows computer software, aiming to put AI at the fingertips of hundreds of millions of people, and Elon Musk, meanwhile approaching AI researchers in recent weeks about forming a new research lab to develop an alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT.
The Windows 11 update, Microsoft's latest in a flurry of product revamps this month, shows how the Redmond, Washington-based software maker is marching ahead on AI, notwithstanding recent scrutiny of its technology.
The company said that Microsoft's operating system would include the new Bing in desktop computers' search box, which helps half a billion monthly users navigate their files and the internet. However, Microsoft said the search engine is still in a preview mode, with access to more than 1 million people in 169 countries with a waitlist for others.
The company unveiled its AI-powered chatbot for Bing as it aims to wrest market share from Alphabet Inc's Google, moving faster with ChatGPT-like software for search.
Microsoft has been gathering feedback on the new Bing before a wider rollout. For example, the engine's AI chatbot reportedly professed love or made threats to some testers, leading the company to cap long chats it said "provoked" responses it did not intend.
In addition to the new Bing, the company said that Microsoft's Windows update would include software that can connect to iPhone messages and calls starting with a limited set of users.
Meanwhile, Tesla and Twitter chief Musk has been recruiting Igor Babuschkin, a researcher who recently left Alphabet's DeepMind AI unit, a report by the Information said, citing people with direct knowledge of the effort.
The report comes after ChatGPT, a text-based chatbot developed by OpenAI that can draft prose, poetry, or even computer code on command, gained widespread attention in Silicon Valley.
Musk, who had co-founded OpenAI with Silicon Valley investor Sam Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit startup, had left its board in 2018 but chimed in with his take on the chatbot, calling it "scary good."
Musk and Babuschkin have discussed assembling a team to pursue AI research. However, the report said the project is still in the early stages, with no concrete plan to develop specific products, quoting an interview with the latter.
Babuschkin added that he has not officially signed onto the Musk initiative, according to the report.
Musk and Babuschkin could not be reached immediately for comments.