WEBVTT - Microsoft President Brad Smith Talks Using AI to Advance the Global South

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. We go to India next,

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<v Speaker 1>where the Artificial Intelligence Summit is underway. It brings together

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<v Speaker 1>global leaders and tech CEOs, and it was there that

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<v Speaker 1>we caught up with Microsoft President Brad Smith. Smith spoke

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<v Speaker 1>with Bloomberg's Hustlin to Ahman, and their conversation began with

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<v Speaker 1>a question about the growth in AI.

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<v Speaker 2>I do think we need to act with urgency today.

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<v Speaker 2>About a quarter of the population in the global North

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<v Speaker 2>has access to and is using generative AI, but only

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<v Speaker 2>fourteen percent in the global South. And when you look

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<v Speaker 2>at the rates of growth, it's almost double in the

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<v Speaker 2>global North what we're seeing in the South. So just

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<v Speaker 2>as electricity divided the world, the countries that had access

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<v Speaker 2>to it for a century industrialized their grew their economies.

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<v Speaker 2>The countries that lacked access to electricity fell behind. We

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<v Speaker 2>will turn this moment, and I believe, either into a

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<v Speaker 2>moment where we will close this divide. We can use

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<v Speaker 2>AI to really enable the global South to catch up

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<v Speaker 2>in terms of economic growth, or we will continue and

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<v Speaker 2>maybe risk even exacerbating the great economic divide that defines

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<v Speaker 2>our world today. But what's most at risk for the

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<v Speaker 2>global self.

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<v Speaker 3>Is it jobs? Is it jobs getting eliminated reshaped? What

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<v Speaker 3>exactly is the biggest concern?

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<v Speaker 2>I think fundamentally it's economic development. It's prosperity because when

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<v Speaker 2>you have a general purpose technology, meaning something like electricity,

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<v Speaker 2>that reshapes the entire economy, what history tells us is

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<v Speaker 2>that the countries that deploy it adopt it widely grow

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<v Speaker 2>faster than those that do not. So it's about productivity growth,

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<v Speaker 2>it is about job growth. It's about opportunities for a

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<v Speaker 2>new and younger population. It's about opportunities to solve real

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<v Speaker 2>world local problems using the best technology available. Microsoft.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm meeting fifty billion dollars by the end of twenty thirty.

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<v Speaker 3>What would be the priority for that kind of investment

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<v Speaker 3>in funding?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, we at Microsoft made clear we're on pace to

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<v Speaker 2>spend fifty billion dollars by twenty thirty to bring AI

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<v Speaker 2>to the global South. If you think about what happened

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<v Speaker 2>with electricity, private capital did not come to these countries,

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<v Speaker 2>They didn't bring power plants to these countries. This starts,

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<v Speaker 2>I think, actually with investment and capability. So when you

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<v Speaker 2>see a company like Microsoft investing, and we're obviously not alone,

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<v Speaker 2>that's encouraging, especially since the investment is all about world

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<v Speaker 2>leading technology. But it's just a start. I think it's

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<v Speaker 2>going to require a massive amount of funding. It is

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<v Speaker 2>really going to require getting the private markets moving. It's

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<v Speaker 2>going to require governments using AI because they play key

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<v Speaker 2>roles in generating demand and we need to scale the population.

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<v Speaker 2>Requires schools, it requires government, it requires tech companies all

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<v Speaker 2>working together. That's another big part of what we at

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<v Speaker 2>Microsoftware announcing here this week.

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<v Speaker 3>All this happening at a time when a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>people are getting skeptical when it comes to AI. We

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<v Speaker 3>talk about how AI will take away the jobs. We

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<v Speaker 3>talk about how AI is a technology that's actually enriching

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<v Speaker 3>the tech titans. How do you reframe? How should we

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<v Speaker 3>frame the AI story?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, fundamentally, I think we should recognize a few things.

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<v Speaker 2>These kinds of technology waves typically take years and decades,

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<v Speaker 2>not weeks or months. I think we should recognize that

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<v Speaker 2>none of this is fundamentally ever about what technology does

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<v Speaker 2>to people. It's about people making decisions about how to

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<v Speaker 2>use technology. People who run businesses, people who run governments,

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<v Speaker 2>people who run nonprofits. We have an opportunity, I believe,

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<v Speaker 2>to use AI to make jobs better for people. There

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<v Speaker 2>will be some processes that are automated, there will be

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<v Speaker 2>some jobs that are displaced, but new jobs will be created.

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<v Speaker 2>But mostly I think many jobs will change. And the

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<v Speaker 2>key is to give people access to AI tools, give

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<v Speaker 2>them the skills that they need to use them, give

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<v Speaker 2>people the opportunity to innovate in how they work. I

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<v Speaker 2>think when you do that, you create a much better

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<v Speaker 2>foundation for the future.

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<v Speaker 3>Given what you have just expressed, and just wondering how

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<v Speaker 3>that's shaping the way you hire in the countries that

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<v Speaker 3>you do business like India.

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<v Speaker 2>I had a fascinating conversation just the last few days

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<v Speaker 2>in another country, and it was with people in a

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<v Speaker 2>company that had a contest for employees to use AI

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<v Speaker 2>to create new studies to create Let me go back

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<v Speaker 2>to that if I could. I had a fascinating conversation

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<v Speaker 2>earlier this week in another country. Somebody who works in

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<v Speaker 2>a company was describing the contest they had so that

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<v Speaker 2>employees could use AI and create more use cases to

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<v Speaker 2>create uses of AI that advanced productivity or built better products.

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<v Speaker 2>But the most interesting thing this person said to me

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<v Speaker 2>was it wasn't fundamentally about creating a better product it

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<v Speaker 2>was about finding the people who wanted to lean in,

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<v Speaker 2>who wanted to innovate, who had creativity and ambition. I

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<v Speaker 2>think there's something that's important and even inspiring for all

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<v Speaker 2>of us in that give people access to the tools

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<v Speaker 2>to AI see what they can do. If you find

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<v Speaker 2>an employee who wants to innovate, that says that that's

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<v Speaker 2>an innovative person. That's the kind of person you want

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<v Speaker 2>to bet the future of your company on by investing

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<v Speaker 2>in their development.

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<v Speaker 3>An AI future world. Would you be hiring more offer

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<v Speaker 3>you a people?

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<v Speaker 2>I think I might be hiring the same number of people.

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<v Speaker 2>I think they might be doing different things than in

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<v Speaker 2>the past. I do think that entry level work inevitably

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<v Speaker 2>is changing. Instead of coming in and just doing one

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<v Speaker 2>thing and you know, it may be more of the

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<v Speaker 2>basic research or checking of citations or sources. I think

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<v Speaker 2>entry level work may become a little bit more like apprenticeships.

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<v Speaker 2>It may become something where you want people to be

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<v Speaker 2>exposed to multiple different tasks and skills for the first

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<v Speaker 2>year or two. I think this is a great time

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<v Speaker 2>for employers that are far sighted. What do you really

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<v Speaker 2>care about the most? If you're a great employer, when

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<v Speaker 2>you're hiring someone new. Is it somebody who's going to

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<v Speaker 2>do something that needs to get done for the next

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<v Speaker 2>six months but may not be all that demanding, Or

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<v Speaker 2>are you hiring people who are going to be come

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<v Speaker 2>the employees that will lead your firm into the future,

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<v Speaker 2>the people who three and five and ten years from

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<v Speaker 2>now are likely to be sparking the innovation you need.

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<v Speaker 2>That I think is and often should be at the

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<v Speaker 2>heart of what great employers are looking for right now.

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<v Speaker 2>We all know it's a tough job market for people

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<v Speaker 2>graduating from universities, but flip that on its head, it's

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<v Speaker 2>a great time for employers who are far sighted, who

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<v Speaker 2>care about talent, who want to invest in people who

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<v Speaker 2>are going to build the workforce not just for the

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<v Speaker 2>next year, but for the next decade and beyond. I

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<v Speaker 2>think that's what we want to be at Microsoft. I

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<v Speaker 2>think that's what everybody who really has a long term

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<v Speaker 2>vision should aspire to do. And we need to make

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<v Speaker 2>AI and AI tools and AI skills a fundamental ingredient

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<v Speaker 2>for everybody that we hire in that way.

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<v Speaker 3>Brad, don't want to take a look at your Microsoft

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<v Speaker 3>spownership with OpenAI. How do you see that evolving long

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<v Speaker 3>a term.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I think it remains a critically important partnership for Microsoft.

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<v Speaker 2>We bet on each other, but it's not as exclusive

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<v Speaker 2>as it was, say a few years ago. Open Ai

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<v Speaker 2>uses our compute, they train models in our data centers,

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<v Speaker 2>but they work with other companies as well. We critically

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<v Speaker 2>rely on open AI's frontier models. They are among the best.

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<v Speaker 2>Many days they are the best in the world. But

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<v Speaker 2>we have a relationship with Anthropic. We use open source models,

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<v Speaker 2>we're developing our own models, so on both sides we

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<v Speaker 2>work with more partners. But I think the partnership between

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<v Speaker 2>the two of us remains an imperative. It's a huge

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<v Speaker 2>priority for us at Microsoft.

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<v Speaker 3>The question is why is it a hedge? Is it

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<v Speaker 3>a strategic pivot? How would you describe that move looking

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<v Speaker 3>at alternative.

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<v Speaker 2>Partners Well, look, if you want to think about the

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<v Speaker 2>partnership between open Ai and Microsoft, all you have to

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<v Speaker 2>do is ask one question. Would any of this generative

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<v Speaker 2>AI sector even exist if the two of us had

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<v Speaker 2>not come together. Open Ai created something that no one

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<v Speaker 2>else even understood was possible when they launched chat GPT,

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<v Speaker 2>and open Ai could never have created that without Microsoft's

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<v Speaker 2>compute and really frontier data centers on which to train

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<v Speaker 2>that we built something special. Will each do special things

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<v Speaker 2>on our own, will each do special things with other companies?

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<v Speaker 2>Will each do I think, very special things with each other.

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<v Speaker 3>Just one funnel question, because we're running out of time, apparently,

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<v Speaker 3>copilot Is it losing traction?

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<v Speaker 2>I don't think so. It's gaining ground. It's getting better

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<v Speaker 2>every week, it's getting better every month. I say this

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<v Speaker 2>as a user not just of M three sixty five Copilot,

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<v Speaker 2>but our consumer copilot, our researcher agent, our other agents.

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<v Speaker 2>We're seeing usage grow. We will continue to add features

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<v Speaker 2>and functionality. I personally think it is an important part

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<v Speaker 2>not just a Microsoft's past and present. It is a

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<v Speaker 2>key part of our future. It is a key part

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<v Speaker 2>of I think, making everyone more creative, more productive. I

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<v Speaker 2>certainly find that in my own work each and every day,