Microsoft says that “ever present” artificial intelligence, or AI, assistants will be coming soon.
The tech giant’s head of AI, Mustafa Suleyman, has explained that products that are able to recall conversations, projects and problems will be available in about a year’s time.
“I think we’re moving into a fundamentally new age where there will be ever present, persistent, very capable co-pilot companions in your everyday life,” Suleyman said in an interview with the BBC.
Users will be encouraged to invest more time and share their personal information with the devices. Critics, however, fear the level of integration as it could compromise data security and privacy.
In response, Suleyman pointed out the popularity of the iPhone feature Live View, where audio and video footage is recorded simultaneously when a picture is taken.
“Most people love that feature,” he said. “Some people turn it off, but that’s a very distinct shift in the default expectation of what a photo is.”
Suleyman added that household devices like TVs, laptops and phones are already “recording continuously everywhere” in an attempt to ease concerns about a lack of privacy.
Microsoft has become a market leader as tech companies worldwide attempt to grasp and develop AI, but Suleyman concedes that it might never be as popular as smartphones. According to the BBC, a poll earlier this year revealed that only two per cent of respondents in the U.K. used the ChatGPT bot on a daily basis.
“Maybe this is different to the smartphone,” he said. “Nearly 90 per cent of the planet has a smartphone. Maybe that will be different. Maybe 50 per cent will reject [AI tools].”
