Microsoft's AI assistant enhances efficiency without model upgrade

Microsoft has announced a significant advancement in its AI assistants, such as Copilot, without requiring an upgrade to its foundational large model. The new technology enables AI assistants to respond four times faster while reducing token consumption by approximately 30%. This improvement is achieved through the integration of SharePoint and Microsoft's new Work IQ knowledge compilation engine, which transforms scattered information across organizations into structured knowledge bases. These knowledge bases allow AI assistants to access data more efficiently, improving performance in tasks like cross-document question-answering, meeting summary generation, and project status tracking. The feature is currently available to Frontier Preview tenants, with access managed through Microsoft 365. Microsoft plans to expand the functionality to Copilot Studio and introduce automated maintenance for knowledge bases. The update addresses the challenge of fragmented data in enterprise environments, where information is often spread across emails, Teams meetings, and technical documents. Previously, AI assistants had to process these data sources individually, leading to delays and high computational costs. With the new system, data retrieval is streamlined, enhancing productivity for users. The feature is available only to organizations using a pay-per-use model, with administrators managing access and costs through the Microsoft 365 admin center.