It’s almost impossible to avoid news around artificial intelligence (AI).

That’s not surprising given its prominence and potential impact on every business imaginable.

AI currently appears in over 30,000 news articles weekly, even outpacing the most popular cryptocurrency topic, Bitcoin.

But for now, AI is mostly viewed as a cool toy, not a game changer for productivity and profitability.

Microsoft (MSFT) changed everything this week. The tech giant unveiled a plan to roll out and monetize AI, while at the same time providing investors with more evidence that the tech is a highly profitable business.

Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said the company’s new AI products will become the fastest business to hit $10 billion.

And that’s very plausible given that over one billion people and businesses are using Microsoft products, with hundreds of millions on subscription plans.

Microsoft’s latest AI offering is Copilot. And I’ll explain exactly why you need to know what’s happening…

This set of AI tools working with its Office suite is called Microsoft 365 Copilot. It costs $30 per user per month on top of what most business customers already pay.

Even Windows will get Copilot to help you with everyday functions. Want dark mode? Just type it in the toolbar… Connecting a new device through Bluetooth? All you need to do is ask…

It’ll create PowerPoint slides, analyze your Excel data, and even rewrite your content right in Word.

Microsoft has been testing Microsoft 365 Copilot, which uses data from the internet as well as a company’s own internal database, with over 500 customers. And these include General Motors (GM), Chevron (CVX), Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT), and Dow Inc. (DOW).

There’s no date when Copilot, which is based on technology from artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, will be widely available. Still, given where it’s already at, we could see it commercially available this year.

Shares of Microsoft jumped almost 6% on the Copilot news, setting an intraday record of $366.78.

— Alex Kagin

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Source: Money Morning