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Microsoft launches AI agents to boost business productivity
Microsoft is introducing autonomous AI agents, or ‘virtual employees’, that can handle client queries and identify sales leads.
As of next month, customers will be able to build their own AI agents, and Microsoft will release ten off-the-shelf bots that can carry out supply chain management and customer service tasks.
Early adopters of the product from Copilot Studio, which launches next month, include consulting firm McKinsey, which is building an agent to process new client enquiries.
Other early users include law firm Clifford Chance and pet retailer Pets at Home. Microsoft is flagging AI agents, which carry out tasks without human intervention, as an example of the technology’s ability to increase productivity.
IBM launches “most advanced” open source enterprise AI, Granite 3.0
IBM is rolling out its Granite 3.0 AI Large Language models, which it claims are the most advanced to date and will outperform other popular large language models from Meta, Anthropic, and Mistral AI.
Designed as ‘workhorse’ models for enterprise AI, use cases cover customer service, IT automation, business process outsourcing, application development and cybersecurity.
IBM claimed the LLM family “is the closest to open source that anybody has released”.
Instagram announces new features to protect teens
Instagram has announced new safety features to target sextortion scammers as a way of giving teenagers protection against abuse and exploitation on the platform.
The Meta-owned social media giant said it is using technology to detect and restrict accounts that engage in scam behaviour, and its new safety tools will prevent scammers from being able to directly screenshot or screen record ephemeral images or videos sent in messages — often the way scammers get hold of intimate images.
The platform added that scammers often use “Following” and “Follower” lists to try to blackmail teenagers, but accounts suspected to be scammers will be barred from accessing those lists.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software faces US safety probe
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency regulating road safety, has revealed it is investigating Tesla’s self-driving software systems.
The evaluation covers 2.4 million Tesla vehicles across multiple models manufactured between 2016 and 2024 and follows four separate crash reports involving Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software.
The agency said the crashes involved reduced roadway visibility, with fog or glares from the sun. The investigation aims to determine if Tesla’s software can adequately detect and appropriately respond in reduced visibility.
One of the incidents involved a Telsa vehicle fatally striking a pedestrian, and another involved someone being injured, the NHTSA said.
TikTok owner fires intern for sabotaging AI model
TikTok owner ByteDance says it sacked an intern back in August for “maliciously interfering” with training one of its artificial intelligence models.
ByteDance rejected claims about the damage caused, saying that the intern worked in the company’s advertising technology team and had no experience with the AI Lab, including its large language models, which were unaffected.
The Chinese technology giant’s Doubao ChatGPT-like generative AI model is the country’s most popular AI chatbot. Like other big players in the tech sector, ByteDance has raced to embrace generative AI.
NHS to provide full medical records access through mobile app
Patients are to get full access to their medical records through the NHS app under legislative proposals to change how the system handles data.
The legal change would require doctors and hospitals to use a single administrative system.
The app, currently used to book appointments and order medication, will house all of an individual’s medical information and allow all medical staff to access it easily.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said it would save around 1.5m working hours yearly.
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