Yahoo Finance Technical Reporter Allie Garfinkle joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss AI and the role it plays in many platforms, including Snap and Microsoft’s Viva.
video transcript
Dave Briggs: Microsoft has integrated ChatGPT-style functionality into its employee experience platform, Viva. Yahoo Finance’s girlfriend Allie Garfinkle joined the conversation to elaborate on this. Ally, what are we learning?
Ally Garfinkel: Hello Dave. So Microsoft has all its bases covered here. Microsoft has worked to integrate ChatGPT-style technology into nearly every app. We’ve seen it in Microsoft 365 before. I’ve seen it in the company’s cybersecurity products. And now we’re seeing it on Viva.
If you haven’t heard of Microsoft Viva, it’s actually a relatively new product. And that’s their employee experience platform. It basically means the kind of thing you use within an organization. That means setting goals for virtual groups, compiling employee surveys, and more. This is a market that Microsoft believes is worth about $300 billion.
But I want to zoom out on the big picture here. This is actually happening as Microsoft tries to shrink its AI market share. Of course, this all goes back to the Google vs. Microsoft paradigm we’ve been talking about for months. In many ways, I think the speed with which Microsoft is working here capitalizes on the mistrust many consumers and markets currently feel about Google’s AI efforts.
But remember, it’s bigger than Viva, bigger than Microsoft, and bigger than Google. We’re really starting to see every tech company under the sun jump into the AI mix here, Dave.
Sheena Smith: We are definitely there, Ally. Speaking of some of the names jumping in, Snapchat has made an AI chatbot available to some users. we tested it. I know you did too. I don’t think it was very impressive. What do you think?
Ally Garfinkel: OK Seana, the reason I have that face is because I have to be honest with you and our audience.This is by far the most impressive AI chatbot I have ever used. The basics are, as you know. The chatbot is called My AI. And they initially released it with a trial period exclusive to Snapchat Plus subscribers.And now it’s free to Snap’s 750 million monthly users.
Ok so there was immediate concern about this. I actually tried it with a question about former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. It also had the strangest interaction with the AI. I asked if it wasn’t an AI chatbot. when did you go on vacation And, in fact, I said I was a real person, not an AI chatbot. I wanted to call an AI ethicist and ask him to explain why this was okay.
The point is, the conclusion here is that it seems pretty half-baked so far. Sheena seems to have had a similar experience.
Sheena Smith: yeah, i did. Producer Sidney actually asked. She asked the chatbot some questions. One of those questions she asked — well, we’re not going to go into all of it, because she’s got about the meaning of life — but she said that Tesla’s latest quarterly report was released last night. I asked about the book, and they actually gave a year-old figure. she tried to clarify. And once again they repeated what they gave her.
So there is a lot of inaccuracy, at least about Snapchat’s AI bots.
Dave Briggs: Is this like Snap Drone and Snap Camera?
Sheena Smith: yeah, you have to ask —
Dave Briggs: –In that conversation?
Sheena Smith: Yeah, it’s far from a home run, at this point it seems.
Dave Briggs: All right, thank you.
Ally Garfinkel: yes. No, that’s what they are trying.
Dave Briggs: good try. Thank you Ally.
