Google announces new generative AI features in its productivity apps
Google announced that it’s rolling out some AI-assisted features to some of its productivity apps. The rollout isn’t worldwide, though, as the company specifies that these features will be made available only to trusted testers in the US, similarly to its chatbot Bard. But the new functionalities will reach all users by the end of this year.
These features will be implemented into Google Docs, Gmail, Sheets and Slides. Inside Docs, for example, the interface will bring easy access to the AI so you can discuss, summarize or brainstorm as you write your piece. In Gmail, the AI can pick up the context from brief bullet points and write a whole email. And as for Slides, you can generate images, audio and video on the fly so you can make a better presentation.
Google has highlighted some of the features that will soon reach all Google users.
Draft, reply, summarize, and prioritize your Gmail
Brainstorm, proofread, write, and rewrite in Docs
Bring your creative vision to life with auto-generated images, audio, and video in Slides
Go from raw data to insights and analysis via auto-completion, formula generation, and contextual categorization in Sheets
Generate new backgrounds and capture notes in Meet
Enable workflows for getting things done in Chat
You can even choose the tone of writing so it fits the occasion better, use the AI to help you with a draft based on a certain topic, summarize long-chain emails to save some time, proofread or even rewrite your document.
OpenAI unveils GPT-4 with new capabilities, Microsoft’s Bing is already using it
Only a few months ago ChatGPT was launched and it changed many people’s perception of what AI can do. That was based on GPT-3.5 from OpenAI, which was also integrated into Microsoft’s Bing and Skype, Edge too. Now the company has confirmed that it has switched over to the new and more powerful GPT-4 model.
In fact, it did so a while ago – if you’re part of the Bing Preview then you have been using GPT-4 for the last five weeks (you can sign up for the preview here). This isn’t the plain GPT-4, by the way, but a version that has been customized by Microsoft for search.
So, what’s new in GPT-4? For starters, it is a “multimodal” model, which is fancy way of saying that you can attach images to your query, not just text. Here is an example of GPT-4 explaining a joke found on Reddit. Note that the output is text only (i.e. you can’t generate images like with Stable Diffusion, MidJourney, etc.).
The new model is smarter too, the OpenAI team tested it with practice exam books from 2022 and 2023. Note: the model doesn’t know anything after September 2021, so these exams (and their answers) weren’t part of the training data.
GPT-3.5 took the bar exam (which lawyers need to pass) and it scored in the bottom 10%. GPT-4 scored in the top 10%. The justice system isn’t ready for robo-lawyers yet, but they are on the horizon. GPT-4 also scored in the 88th percentile on the LSAT exam, v3.5 was in the 40th. For SAT Math, GPT-4 was in the 89th percentile, GPT-3.5 in the 70th. You can check out OpenAI’s announcement for more exam results.
The most important new feature in version 4 is “steerability”. Previously, ChatGPT was coerced into acting like a digital assistant by prepending some rules. It was possible to trick the AI into revealing those rules, e.g. here’s what Microsoft told “Sydney” to do as Bing (including not revealing its Sydney code name):
Microsoft and OpenAI have worked to hide such rules (to prevent so-called “jailbreaking”), but now there is a better way to do it – companies can control the AI’s style and task with a system message. Here’s an example:
It’s important to note that GPT-4 still has limitations, especially when it comes to facts. Like its predecessor, the model can make things up, these are called “hallucinations”. The new version is significantly better (scoring 40% higher on internal testing) than GPT-3.5 at sticking to the facts and not making logical mistakes, but it is still not perfect. Still, GPT-3 was released in mid-2020, GPT-3.5 arrived in early 2022 (a later enhancement was used for ChatGPT), so the pace of improvement is nothing short of incredible.
How to Access ChatGPT4
Now all we want to know is this – can we have a GPT-4 powered Cortana?
Mendeley Reference Manager simplifies your workflow, so you can focus on achieving your goals.
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Mendeley is a popular reference management tool that allows researchers to easily collect, organize, and share their research references. Here are some of the benefits of using Mendeley:
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Integration with Microsoft Word and other tools: Mendeley integrates with popular word processors like Microsoft Word, allowing you to easily insert citations and bibliographies into your papers. It also works with other tools such as LaTeX and Google Docs.
Access to a vast research database: Mendeley offers access to a large database of research articles and papers, making it easy to discover new research and stay up-to-date with the latest developments in your field.
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Overall, Mendeley can save researchers a lot of time and effort by automating the citation and reference management process, while also offering tools for collaboration and access to a vast research database.
