Microsoft: Meet Natasha, Microsoft’s new AI assistant – Times of India

Microsoft is upping its artificial intelligence (AI) game as Google gets all set to announce a series of AI-powered experiences at its biggest annual event, Google I/O. The Windows maker has entered into a partnership with Builder.ai, an AI-powered software platform that helps users without any coding knowledge to develop apps.
What it means for app developers
Microsoft, which has invested an undisclosed sum into Builder.ai, plans to integrate Builder.ai’s AI assistant Natasha into its Teams video and chat software. This is aimed at enabling customers to build their business apps within the platform.

Natasha is Builder.ai’s AI project manager that uses machine learning algorithms to recommend the features users might need, based on the type of app they are building. Natasha also creates instant prototypes for users to help them visualise their ideas.
“We are thrilled to be working so closely with Microsoft. We are ecstatic that the world’s largest software company chose Builder.ai as a collaborator to lay down deeper roots in helping the next 100m businesses and beyond become digitally native,” said Sachin Dev Duggal, chief wizard and founder of Builder.ai.
On its part, Builder.ai will also enhance Natasha by leveraging Microsoft’s AI algorithms. With this partnership, Microsoft will be able to expand its offerings for small and medium businesses (SMB) and micro SMB customers.

The collaboration will also see Builder.ai get deep product integration across the Microsoft product ecosystem, including Azure OpenAI Service and other Azure Cognitive Services.
Microsoft’s investments in AI
The development comes as Microsoft invested billions in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for the software part and is building AI hardware, such as a supercomputer and powerful chips to run machines that will be used to train natural language models.
“Our collaboration with Builder.ai is an extension of our mission to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. We see Builder.ai creating an entirely new category that empowers everyone to be a developer and our new, deeper collaboration fuelled by Azure AI will bring the combined power of both companies to businesses around the world,” added Jon Tinter, corporate vice president, business development, Microsoft.
Microsoft recently announced that it is bringing Microsoft 365 Copilot, launched in March this year, to more customers.