If you thought that Microsoft wouldn't capitalize on its AI opportunity for businesses, think again. Microsoft will tell its corporate partners this week at Microsoft Inspire that it will charge a whopping $30 per user per month for Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft's AI-assisted features for its Microsoft 365 suite -- double what it's charging for Microsoft 365 by itself. Microsoft is also announcing a specialized version of Bing Chat for businesses, Bing Chat Enterprise, that will can be used to ask the AI questions about a company's confidential information without it being leaked outside of corporate firewalls. Microsoft is clearly betting that enterprises will value Microsoft 365 Copilot enough that they'll want to pay for the additional features Copilot offers, which vary by Office application. In fact, Microsoft isn't even saying when Microsoft 365 Copilot will be available this week at its Inspire conference -- just preparing those customers (specifically Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium customers) that they'll have to pay a ton for the additional AI services.

The global artificial intelligence investments have doubled in the last year, but India's share in global AI investment remains at 1.5%, …

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Central government of India is planning to launch a National Centre for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and make it operational by July as the work has begun for a launch, said a report by Business Standard. Called as the National Artificial Intelligence Centre, the unit is likely to cost around Rs 400-450 crore and will be part of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and will work in collaboration with other entities of the department such as the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), said the report citing senior government officials. The report said the AI unit will be for citizens and will help in setting up data platform, skilling, reskilling and research platforms, thereby helping to solve legal, regulatory and cybersecurity challenges. "The panels gave us a lot of fodder to think on, and suggested setting up of a national AI centre," a senior government official told Business Standard. "The centre will try to innovate in AI for government applications. It will look at how AI can be used in health care, education, and agriculture from a public systems delivery perspective."

Leslie D'Monte is a journalist with over two decades of experience, specializing in technology and science editing and writing. He has worked with leading media groups like HT Media Ltd. (Mint), Business Standard, The Times of India, The Indian Express, Jasubhai Media group and ZdNet India, both as a reporter and editor. Leslie is currently the National Technology Editor of Mint, the business publication of HT Media Ltd, and also a part of Mint's Leadership team. Leslie talks about the rebirth of artificial intelligence and gives his take on what impacts it is going to have on life as we know it. He also addresses some myths surrounding AI and machine learning.