San Francisco, United States

Microsoft has now expanded public access to its generative artificial intelligence programmes and the AI-enhanced features are now available for anyone to use without a waitlist. 

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In a blog post published on Thursday, Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft, announced that the features of the company's Bing search engine and Edge internet browser are now open for anyone to use.

"This means that it will now be easier than ever for everyone to try the new Bing and Edge by simply signing into Bing with your Microsoft account," he said.

According to him, the services have been enhanced with the ability to work with images as well as texts. In the future, Microsoft intends to add video features to the mix.

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The executive said that a Bing "Image Creator" was recently integrated into Microsoft's AI chatbot's repertoire, which enables it to generate visual, as well as written content.  Additionally, the company will be expanding Image Creator's capabilities so that users can use their native languages.

"We are expanding Image Creator to all languages in Bing," said Mehdi, adding, "So, now, you can create images in your native language."

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Microsoft has so far seen people make more than 200 million images with Bing creator software, Mehdi said.

"We believe innovating and learning in the open is part of a responsible approach," he added.

"Our teams continue to work to address issues such as misinformation and disinformation, content blocking, data safety and preventing the promotion of harmful or discriminatory content in line with our AI principles."

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The developments come as experts flag the dangers of AI, which include but are not limited to potential uses for fraud, with voice clones, deep-fake videos and convincing written messages.

In March of this year, a range of experts urged a pause in the development of AI systems and asked for time to make sure that the systems are safe.

Over 1,000 people, including billionaire Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, were among the signatories of the open letter prompted by generative AI technology from Microsoft-backed firm OpenAI. The letter claimed that "AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity."

Also read | Google, Microsoft CEOs called to AI meeting at White House

"Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," it said.

The dangers have even prompted Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent computer scientist often dubbed as "the godfather of artificial intelligence" to quit his job at Google to speak out about the dangers of the technology.

(With inputs from agencies)

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