Microsoft says multi-modal GPT-4 Turbo with Vision coming soon

At its annual Ignite event, Microsoft has shared that GPT-4 Turbo with Vision will be available in Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Studio. This will give developers multi-modal capabilities in their applications allowing for greater possibilities.

Multi-modal capabilities mean that Microsoft’s AI will support different input formats including text, images, and more making tools more useful for more applications.

In addition, the company said that it’s introducing vector search which can improve the quality of responses and reduce latency. Microsoft said this functionality is essential for generative AI apps.

Explaining what vector search is, Microsoft writes:

“Vector search is a method of searching for information within various data types, including image, audio, text, video, and more. It’s one of the most critical elements of AI-powered, intelligent apps, and the addition of this capability is our latest AI-ready functionality to come to our Azure databases portfolio.”

In addition to these announcements Microsoft has decided to rename and expand its Copilot Copyright Commitment. It is now called the Customer Copyright Commitment (CCC) for customers using the Azure OpenAI Service.

With the expansion, the CCC will help to protect commercial customers pay for any adverse judgments if they are sued for copyright infringement for outputs that the Azure OpenAI Service generates.

To help reduce the chances of customers being sued in the first place, Microsoft has published new documentation containing technical information that customers can implement to reduce the risk of infringing content being generated.

If customers want protection if they are being sued, they will need to abide by the documentation. Putting safeguards in place against the generation of copyrighted material will help Microsoft keep its costs down.

One of the big issues around generative AI is safety. Microsoft has reiterated its commitment to safe and responsible AI. It said that ethical values and foundational principles are critically important but hopes its efforts go even further.