Microsoft is best known for its Windows operating systems and Office software. But the company has a much broader product portfolio that includes online services (Bing, MSN, advertising), gaming (Xbox 360), hardware (tablets, PCs, keyboards and mice) and more. The company also has a sizable certification program that turns out qualified administrators and technicians to support its system and application products.

Achieving IT certifications through the Microsoft Certification Program shows a person’s competence in a specific IT role, and it can result in all kinds of work-related and personal benefits. For example, studies show that IT certifications increase the chances of landing a job (or getting a promotion), and over 80 percent of hiring managers report IT certifications are medium to high priority in hiring decisions.

Microsoft certification program overview

Currently, the Microsoft Certification Program is divided into seven main categories:

• Cloud Platform and Infrastructure: This category encompasses business intelligence, Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Azure, machine learning, cloud data platform solutions, data analytics and big data, software-defined data centers, server infrastructures, private and hybrid clouds, DevOps, and more. This is the “new mainstream” for Microsoft certification.
• Mobility: This category is for end-user and desktop topics, including Windows 10, desktop and enterprise applications, working with System Center Configuration Manager and Intune, and planning for and managing devices in an enterprise setting.
• Data Management and Analytics: This arena now incorporates machine learning, business intelligence, business applications, and data management and analytics, along with Microsoft SQL Server 2016 and other Microsoft database technologies. Database development is also important and includes working with Transact-SQL and developing SQL databases. Business applications include extensive coverage of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Dynamics AX. Data management and analytics cover a range of topics, including cloud data platform solutions, big data analytics solutions, database solutions, implementing data models and reports, and various aspects of business intelligence solutions.
• Productivity: This category brings the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) credentials together with those related to Microsoft productivity offerings, such as Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and Skype for Business, as well as Office 365 identities, requirements and services.
• App Builder: This is a development-oriented category that covers the ins and outs of using Microsoft solutions and platforms to build compatible software. Topics in this category include architecting, designing, testing and building solutions around Azure, programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3, developing ASP.NET MVC Web apps, managing development throughout the entire software lifecycle, and more
• Business Applications: This category focuses on Microsoft Dynamics 365 platforms and technologies, including Dynamics 365 for Sales, Customer Service, Marketing, Distribution and Trade, Trade, financial management (Finance and Operations), Retail, Talent, and Field Service and other focused applications.
• Core Infrastructure: Core Infrastructure focuses on virtualization, storage, networking, system management, identity management, and modern data centers.

Certifications within the Microsoft Certification Program include the following credentials:

• Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA)
• Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA)
• Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE)
• Microsoft Solutions Developer (MCSD)
• Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)

After you pass your first qualifying Microsoft certification exam, you are deemed a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). MCP status provides access to a benefits and exams dashboard, with certificates and transcripts, downloadable certification logos, promotional offers and lots more. You also get the MCP designation on your Microsoft transcript. It’s important to understand that only the MCSA, MCSD and MCSE qualify as MCP certifications. Neither MTA nor MOS certifications qualify for MCP status, and none of those exams are prerequisites for MCSA, MCSE or MCSD certifications.

In addition to the certifications outlined above, Microsoft offers its MCT: Microsoft Certified Trainer and MCE: Microsoft Certified Educator credentials to those interested in teaching others about Microsoft technologies and products.

Microsoft recently released a new set of role-based certifications focused on Azure and Microsoft 365 developers, administrators, and solution architects.

Microsoft Cloud certifications

The Microsoft Cloud certification track includes MTA and MCSA credentials. Within the MTA program, there is one relevant certification: Cloud Fundamentals. To earn the MTA: Cloud Fundamentals credentials, candidates must pass a single exam that validates knowledge and skills using basic Microsoft cloud services. Candidates should have experience using firewalls, network ports, Office 365, network topologies and devices, and Microsoft Intune.

The MCSA Cloud track includes BI Reporting, SQL 2016 BI Development certs, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2016 credentials. The Windows Server certifications require three exams each while BI Reporting and SQL 2016 BI Development require only two exams.

Microsoft Mobility certifications

The Microsoft Mobility certification track includes MTA, MCSA and MCSE certifications. The MTA program has just one relevant certification – MTA: Mobility and Device Fundamentals. —The MTA: Mobility and Device Fundamentals certification is earned by passing a single exam that attests to a candidate’s knowledge of mobility and Windows devices. Candidates should possess practical experience with Active Directory, Windows devices, Windows-based networking, network topologies and ports, firewalls, and antimalware products.

MCSA: Windows 10 is the only MCSA Mobility track credential available. Earning the MCSA: Windows 10 requires passing two exams.

The remaining credential in this track is the MCSE: Mobility. This requires earning the MCSA: Windows 10 plus passing one more exam, from a list of two possibilities that deal with Windows desktops and enterprise applications, or administering System Center Configuration Manager and Cloud Services Integration.

Both the MCSA: Mobility and MCSE: Mobility credentials retire on March 31, 2019. If earned prior to the retirement date, the credentials will continue to show as “active” certifications on your transcript. The MCSA: Windows 10 will be replaced by a new role-based credential – the Microsoft Certified: Modern Desktop Administrator Associate. Two exams are required to earn this credential. At present, no announcement has been made regarding whether the Modern Desktop Administrator Associate credential will become a prereq to the MCSE: Mobility. There’s a lot of ongoing ferment in MS certification programs right now. We expect 2019 to see major changes in MS’s cert programs and offerings. Next year’s update should be a big one!

Microsoft Data certifications

Microsoft’s Data certification track includes the MTA, MCSA and MCSE. (To see the Data track, go to the Microsoft Certification page and click Data from the Category dropdown menu.) The MTA program requires one exam on database fundamentals. There are six certifications in the MCSA Data track– namely, Data Engineering with Azure, Machine Learning, SQL 2016 BI Development, SQL 2016 Database Administration, SQL 2016 Database Development, and SQL Server 2012/2014. All certs require two exams except for SQL Server 2012/2014, which requires three. The Data Engineering with Azure and Machine Learning certifications both retire on June 30, 2019.   

The MCSE Data category includes a single certification, the MCSE: Data Management and Analytics.

The prerequisite MCSAs that qualify for MCSE: Data Management and Analytics are SQL Server 2012/2014, SQL 2016 Database Administration, Database Development, BI Development, Machine Learning, BI Reporting, or Data Engineering with Azure. One additional exam from a list of 13 possibilities must be passed to earn this credential. Topics covered include cloud data platform solutions, big data analytics solutions, developing or designing SQL Server databases, implementing data models and reports, designing business intelligence solutions, implementing a data warehouse, developing SQL data models, analyzing big data with Microsoft R, cloud data science with Azure machine learning, data engineering with Azure HDInsight, and implementing with Azure Cosmos DB solutions.

Microsoft Productivity certifications

Certifications in the Microsoft Productivity category vary widely, from proving competency in using a single Office product to managing Office 365 services and user login credentials. This track is also fairly large; it includes an MCSA and MCSE certification as well as Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) offerings.

The MCSA Productivity track includes a single certification – the MCSA: Office 365. Two exams are required to obtain the credential. This credential is targeted to retire on Mach 30, 2019. The MCSE: Productivity certification requires candidates possess either the MCSA Office 365, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2016 credential as a prerequisite. Candidates must also pass one additional exam, from a list of eight possibilities. Topics covered include Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and Skype for Business, for multiple versions of these platforms.  

Microsoft offers a MOS Office 2016 certification for each Office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, and Outlook). Office 2013 credentials are still available, but unless you have a specific reason for achieving them, focus on Office 2016.

The MOS 2016 Expert certification identifies individuals with advanced Office skills and requires candidates to pass two exams. The MOS 2016 Master certification is the pinnacle of the MOS Certification Program and requires successful completion of six exams.

Microsoft App Builder certifications

The Microsoft Developer certification path includes MTA, MCSA and MCSD certifications. The MTA program recognizes individuals who are entry-level software developers. The certification requires candidates to pass one of five exams. Possible Topics include software development fundamentals, HTML5 app development fundamentals, and intro to programming using block-based languages, Python or JavaScript, and using HTML and CSS.

There are two credentials in the Microsoft App Builder MSCA track. The MCSA: Universal Windows Platform (UWP) credential prepares candidates to tackle professional development projects. They must pass two exams, one on programming in C#, the other on developing mobile apps. The MCSA: Web Applications credential prepares candidates for building web-based applications. They must pass two exams, one of which is required while candidates may choose from two possibilities for the second exam. All candidates must take the exam relating to developing ASP.NET MVC Web applications. Topics for the second exam include programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 or programming in C#.

The MCSD Developer track consists of the MCSD: App Builder certification. It requires earning either the MSCA: Web Applications or MCSA: UWP as its prerequisite, followed by your choice of one exam from a list of five possible options. Topics covered in include architecting and developing Azure solutions, developing Azure and web services, developing mobile apps, programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3, programming in C#, developing ASP.NET MVC Web apps, or developing MS Azure and Web services.

Microsoft Business Applications certifications

The Microsoft Business Applications certifications include MCSA and MCSE certifications. There are two MCSA options: MCSA: Microsoft Dynamics 365 and MCSA: Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations. Each requires passing two exams. The plain vanilla Dynamics 365 certification draws from a list of two exams, both of which are needed to meet its requirements. One exam covers Dynamics 365 customer engagement online deployment, while the other covers Dynamics 365 customization and configuration. The MCSA: Microsoft Dynamics 365 credential retires on April 30, 2019.

The Dynamics 365 for Operations draws from a list of three exams, one of which is required while candidates may choose the Topic for the second exam. Topics covered include administering a Microsoft SQL database infrastructure, provisioning SQL databases, and development, extensions and deployment for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (required).

The MSCE: Business Applications credential is the sole MCSE item for this certification track. It takes either of the Microsoft Dynamics MCSAs covered in the preceding paragraph as its prerequisite, then requires candidates to pass another exam drawn from a list of eight possibilities. Topics covered include Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales, customer service, marketing, distribution and trade, trade, financial management (finance and operations), retail, talent, and field service.

Core Infrastructure

Microsoft offers a single credential focused on core infrastructure – MCSE: Core Infrastructure. The MCSE: Core Infrastructure certification validates a candidate’s knowledge and skills related to data centers, virtualization, systems management, storage, networking and identity management. The credential requires either the MCSA: Windows Server 2016 or MCSA: Windows Server 2012 as a prerequisite. In addition to the MCSA, candidates must pass a single exam from seven topics. exam Topics include designing and implementing Cloud Data Platform solutions, designing and implementing Big Data Analytics solutions, securing Windows Server 2016, implementing software-defined datacenters, designing and implementing server infrastructures, implementing advanced server infrastructures, and configuring and operating a hybrid cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack.

Microsoft Trainer and Educator certifications

MCT: Microsoft Certified Trainer

Folks who teach others about Microsoft technologies and products should consider (and are often required to have) the Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) certification. The MCT can be obtained by submitting an application to Microsoft that proves that you hold a current Microsoft certification, one year of instruction experience (supporting reference required), plus verifiable instructional skills in the form of an acceptable instructor certification (such as CompTIA CTT+, Microsoft Certified Trainer Instructional Skills Certification (MCT-ISC) or IAMCT Approved Technical Trainer).

To renew, credential holders must possess at least one current Microsoft credential, meet the minimum instruction requirements of teaching at least one class, and maintain a Metrics that Matter quality score of at least seven. (Check the MCT website for a list of qualifying certifications and instructor certifications.)

As an MCT, you have access to the MCP benefits and exams dashboard, prep kits, the MCT community, Microsoft Online Labs and much more.

MCE: Microsoft Certified Educator

The Microsoft Certified Educator (MCE) credential is aimed at educators in academia, such as colleges, universities and training facilities. To become an MCE, you must demonstrate technology literacy by passing at least one exam.

The literacy competency is mapped to the UNESCO ITC Competency Framework for Teachers, Technology Literacy and includes education policy, curriculum and assessment, pedagogy, ICT/technology tools, organization and administration, and professional development.

IT professionals who earn Microsoft certification often receive extra recognition from hiring and supervising managers, and enjoy improved on-the-job success and promotion opportunities. Companies that negotiate large volume purchase or subscription agreements with Microsoft (or its partner resellers) often include funding for official curriculum training and Microsoft certification exam vouchers as part of what’s covered therein.

Here are how the various Microsoft certification areas shake out, job- and career-wise:

• A Microsoft Cloud certification is ideal for the IT professional who designs, deploys, configures and/or manages a Windows Server environment, stand-alone or cloud-based, which may include various desktops and devices. Folks who achieve this type of certification work as systems administrators, systems analysts, technical certified (often with a platform focus such as SQL Server, Skype for Business or Exchange Server), and the like.
• A Microsoft Mobility certification is designed for those who deploy, configure and/or manage a Windows desktop environment and related devices, whether on-premises or in the cloud. IT professionals with this type of certification usually fill positions such as help desk technicians, support personnel and systems administrators, to name a few.
• Of late, Microsoft Productivity credentials have been gathering interest, coverage and momentum. People who pursue these certifications work with key Windows platforms such as Office, Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365, which covers CRM, ERP and more. They are usually responsible for making sure that rank-and-file employees are able to work effectively and productively, and that technology provides a boost to the bottom line.
• Microsoft Data certifications cover a lot of ground. Database design, creation and maintenance are particularly important to organizations today, considering that data storage is key to most business computing, and nearly every website is supported by one or more databases running in the background. A database administrator is in charge of all kinds of database-related functions, from development to storage and retrieval, troubleshooting and security. Now, Microsoft’s database coverage also integrates business intelligence and big data/data analytics components, too, so IT professionals interested in these subject matters will find a lot to chase down and learn here.
• Microsoft App Builder certifications aim at application and mobile app developers who use programming languages and source code to create software. A developer may work independently or, more often, with a team, to develop, prototype, deploy, test, and modify applications for computers and many types of electronic devices. This certification portfolio also includes development for Microsoft’s cloud-based Azure environment and for software lifecycle management as well.
• Microsoft Business Applications certifications aim at those involved with back-office, line of business systems and applications built around Microsoft Dynamics 365 (including the “for operations” version of that platform). This credential aims at those who upgrade, configure, and customize such systems as well as those who develop custom applications for specific, proprietary uses in-house or on behalf of clients. Such professionals also support customized configurations for various organizational units, including sales, field service, retail operations, finance, distribution and trade and more.
• Trainers (MCTs) and educators (MCEs) also play a vital role in the Microsoft ecosystem as well. MCTs populate the front lines of key training for IT professionals across all of its platforms, tools and technologies with an emphasis on cultivating workplace readiness and imparting skills and knowledge suitable for on-the-job deployment. Arguably, MCEs are even more important, by helping students at all levels of education – primary, secondary and beyond – to understand and make the most of Microsoft tools, technologies, platforms, and development environments.

Training and certification preparation materials

Microsoft offers training to candidates directly, both in the classroom and online. The company’s Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) is a great place to start poking around: it offers a huge range of free training courses, many of them at least relevant to various certification Topics if not directly focused on such topics.

There’s also a huge aftermarket for Microsoft training, self-study and certification preparation. Pearson operates Microsoft Press on Microsoft’s behalf, where you can find self-study guides for all the popular Microsoft cert exams (and many of the not-so-popular exams as well). Pearson’s IT Certification imprint (online at PearsonITCertification.com) also offers study guides, exam crams (a series I invented), practice tests, video training materials and much more for Microsoft certification candidates. Wiley/Sybex and Osborne/McGraw-Hill also offer certification focused imprints, book series and generally provide good coverage of major cert Topics as well, also including most popular Microsoft certifications and related exams. Pearson’s mindhub online store also offers “official” practice exams approved by Microsoft.

There’s a wealth of excellent material available to help candidates prepare. Look to online and peer reviews, study groups and rating sites to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

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Analysis Over the past two decades, efforts have been made to make email more secure. Alas, defensive protocols implemented during this period, such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, remain unable to deal with the complexity of email forwarding and differing standards, a study has concluded.

In a preprint paper titled, "Forward Pass: On the Security Implications of Email Forwarding Mechanism and Policy," scheduled to appear at the 8th IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy in July, authors Enze Liu, Gautam Akiwate, Mattijs Jonker, Ariana Mirian, Grant Ho, Geoffrey Voelker, and Stefan Savage show that email messages can be easily spoofed despite the existence of supposed defenses.

The researchers, affiliated with UC San Diego and Stanford University in the US, and University of Twente in the Netherlands, reveal that attackers can still easily take advantage of security issues arising from email forwarding. They demonstrated this by delivering spoofed messages to accounts at major email providers like Google Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, and Zoho.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC do help. Sender Policy Framework (SPF) provides a way to set a list of IP addresses that can send email on behalf of a domain, and to define what actions recipients should take upon receipt of a message from an unauthorized IP address.

DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) creates a cryptographic signature binding a message to the sending domain, but doesn't verify the sender (the FROM header).

Domain Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) builds upon and extends SPF and DKIM by telling the message recipient what to do if a message does not pass authentication tests, and can report that information back to the sender.

These defenses, however, have trouble coping with email forwarding. One problem, the boffins explain, is that forwarding involves at least three parties and that the authenticity of email commonly gets decided by the party with the weakest security settings.

Spoofed messages appear to come from prominent domains operated by government, finance, legal, and media organizations, but come from somewhere else. An example cited in the paper of a successful attack is a spoofed email purporting to be bush@state.gov that was delivered to a Gmail user’s inbox without any warning notification.

The sorts of social engineering attacks made possible by spoofed email continue to present security challenges for organizations and individuals. To underscore that point, the researchers point to the 2021 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, which indicates that phishing is involved in over a third (36 percent) of the more than 4,000 data breaches investigated, and that email-based attacks are commonly used for social engineering.

Another issue is that the goal of forwarding is for the relaying party to send an existing message on behalf of the original sender in a way that's transparent. That, the researchers opine, is contrary to the anti-spoofing aspirations of SPF and DMARC.

"Finally, there is no single standard implementation of email forwarding," the researchers state in their paper. Consequently, choosing to permit open forwarding, while it doesn't necessarily harm the security of the implementing party, has a downstream impact on other email services and their users.

Sadly not rocket science

The boffins describe four different email spoofing attacks, each of which works with a different set of commercial email providers. Here's one that involves Microsoft Outlook:

According to the researchers, this technique works – or did at the time it was tested – for domains that include the SPF record of six large commercial email services, including Outlook, iCloud, Freemail, Hushmail, Mail2World and Runbox.

More than a few people are potentially vulnerable to this attack. The academics say that given Outlook's size, an attacker using this technique would be able to spoof email for more than 12 percent of the Alexa 100,000 most popular domains. And 32 percent of US .gov domains, including 22 percent of the domains used by federal agencies, can be spoofed using this technique.

The paper goes on to explore three other spoofing techniques. These involve abusing relaxed forwarding validation, exploiting vulnerabilities in ARC (Authenticated Received Chain) implementations, and laundering spoofed email through mailing lists.

The boffins say they have disclosed the vulnerabilities and attacks to affected providers and have already received responses from some. Zoho, they say, fixed its ARC implementation and awarded the researchers a bug bounty.

Microsoft, meanwhile, confirmed the vulnerabilities, designating them "Important," which is the highest severity the company awards for spoofing bugs, and paid a bug bounty. Mailing list service Gaggle Mail confirmed the reported flaw and said it would start enforcing DMARC. Gmail fixed the issue it was made aware of. And Apple's iCloud is said to be investigating the researchers' bug report.

"While there are certain short-term mitigations (e.g., eliminating the use of open forwarding) that will significantly reduce the exposure to the attacks we have described here, ultimately email requires a more solid security footing if it is to effectively resist spoofing attacks going forwards," the paper concludes. ®

• The study found positive market sentiment around Bing and ChatGPT's potential to challenge Google's search engine.
• The market "welcomes a change" and for Microsoft's Bing to potentially "level the playing field" with Google search, according to the study.
• There were concerns about ChatGPT's lack of fact-checking features and the profitability of Microsoft's investment in OpenAI.

Microsoft is suddenly not boring.

The software giant is considered to have a real chance of challenging Google's online search dominance through a partnership with OpenAI and its ChatGPT technology, according to a confidential report prepared recently for Microsoft.

Sprinklr, which analyzes online sentiment, studied a wide range of comments about Microsoft, its Bing search engine, ChatGPT, and Google. It revealed broadly positive sentiment about a ChatGPT-Bing combination. The first fruits of this partnership are due to be announced on Tuesday.

Microsoft found that online conversations around the Bing-ChatGPT partnership were largely positive, showing "the market welcomes a change," the study stated. Many people see "ChatGPT + Bing as a 'threat' or 'challenge' to Google Search," it added.

"Bing can leverage the power of ChatGPT for improved results and challenge Google's monopoly," the report, marked Microsoft Confidential, explained. "Users believe this to be a shift to 'level the playing field.'" Insider obtained a copy of the report. A Microsoft spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment on Monday. 

The study ran from late November to early January, capturing data from news publications and online services including Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Reddit. 

The findings suggest one reason why Microsoft is expanding its partnership with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that has taken the world by storm since its public release in late November. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a a big new investment in OpenAI. The software giant is also planning to incorporate OpenAI's technology into some of its other products, like Office apps, The Information previously reported.

'Big year for Bing'

People were particularly "excited" about Microsoft's investment in OpenAI, with some calling it a "forward thinking" move, the Sprinklr study noted. They are "eagerly" awaiting more ChatGPT features in Office products, with many expressing surprise over the fast-moving partnership, it added.

They also "enthusiastically" mentioned that ChatGPT's integration with Office applications could "improve efficiency and productivity," while some stated they would "switch to Bing," which could "challenge Google's 'search dominance,'" according to the study.

"As Microsoft continues to focus on building AI and machine learning offerings, integrating GPT could supply Microsoft a competitive edge," the internal report said. "Some online expect a big year for Bing and were delighted by the 'Incredible additions to search.'"

Some said the ChatGPT user experience was "weird" or "scary"

Not all responses were positive. Most notably, some people were worried about ChatGPT's lack of fact-checking and the uncertainty around its privacy, a bigger concern for use in educational environments. Some said the ChatGPT user experience was "weird" or "scary," and were skeptical of the profitability of investing in an AI research company, like OpenAI, the study found

Still, ChatGPT's "humanlike" responses were seen as a major appeal and an improvement from the current search engine's lists of links, it said. The report added Microsoft can "double down on the verification of results accuracy" and should consider how this new technology "will be used by both professionals and students to complete tasks."

But Microsoft's excitement over its partnership with ChatGPT is best seen in a slide of the report asking the chatbot for a "funny limerick about how Microsoft beats Google by integrating ChatGPT into Bing." 

ChatGPT answered:

"There once was a search engine named Bing

Which was struggling, not doing much thing

But with ChatGPT on its side

It finally got its pride

And left Google searching for its next fling"

Got a tip? 

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Feb 10, 2023 (The Expresswire) -- Unified Communication and Collaboration Market Size 2023-2029 | New Report (104 Pages) | In This Reports Unified Communication and Collaboration Market and its business scene, significant issues, answers for relieving the upgrading risk, methodologies, future lookout, and possibilities, Other than the standard design reports, Top Unified Communication and Collaboration Companies (Huawei Technologies, 8x8, Alcatel-Lucent, Aastra Technologies, Dell, Cisco, IBM, Corex, CSC, Genesys, HP, Microsoft, Configure, BroadSoft, Damovo, Avaya) with the best facts and figures, definitions, SWOT and PESTAL analysis, expert opinions and the latest trends around the world.

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For the past two decades, more people have used Google to explore the internet than any other search engine. Now, Microsoft is looking to challenge that dominance using breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.  

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled an advanced version of its search engine Bing. Along with the usual search results, ChatGPT-like technology can answer complex questions, help users make decisions and turn even complex questions into conversational answers.  

For Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, it's all a generational chance to put his company back on top when it comes to innovation.  

"It's a new race in the most important software category, or the largest software category, in search. Let's face it," Nadella told CBS News' Tony Dokoupil. "Google dominates it. We are thrilled to be here launching Bing to compete." 

Microsoft developed the technology in partnership with OpenAI, the research lab in which it has invested billions of dollars. OpenAI is also behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT.  The new AI model is touted to be more powerful than its predecessor, but in an early demonstration set up for CBS News, the feature was at times was slow, unresponsive and inaccurate. 

Nadella said the only way for any new technology to be "really perfected" is by receiving "real human feedback" in the market.  

Particularly with AI, "it has to get aligned with human preferences, both personally and societally in terms of the norms. And that's why we want to launch it," he said. "We want to have all the safety. We want to have all of the things that will make sure that no harms are created. But we need it out there in the real world."  

Nadella said the model has been trained with safety as a top priority and that it will not help someone do anything illegal.   

"We will have many, many mechanisms to ensure that nothing biased, nothing harmful gets generated," Nadella said.  
 
A Microsoft executive declined CBS News' request to test some of those mechanisms, indicating the functionality was "probably not the best thing" on the version in use for the demonstration. 

Nadella also addressed concerns about "runaway AI," which he said would be "a real problem" if it happened. 

"The way to sort of deal with that is to make sure it never runs away," he said.  

"And so that's why I look at it and say ... let's start with ... the context in which AI is used," Nadella said. "The first set of categories in which we should use these powerful models are where humans, unambiguously, unquestionably, are in charge. And so as long as we sort of start there, characterize these models, make these models more safe and over time much more explainable, then we can think about other forms of usage." 

"But let's not have it run away," he said. 

Microsoft is integrating ChatGPT-like capabilities into its meeting software, contributing to the user base that has made the AI-powered generative text tool the fastest-growing app of all time.

The tech company on Thursday introduced a "more intelligent" premium version of Microsoft Teams, its videoconferencing tool, powered by the same AI that runs ChatGPT. Chores that can now be performed by the tool include taking notes and bulleting key takeaways from meetings — work traditionally done by employees. 

Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI, the AI research company behind ChatGPT, betting on the company's lead role in AI breakthroughs that will transform the way professionals across numerous fields work. 

The note-taking function is powered by OpenAI's GPT-3.5 model, the same model that powers ChatGPT.

In a blog post, Microsoft said that "modern tools powered by AI hold the promise to boost individual, team, and organizational-level productivity and fundamentally change how we work."

In Teams, ChatGPT will automatically provide recaps of meetings held over the platform, generate task lists based on discussion and provide meeting transcripts and summaries. Its "intelligent recap" feature will generate meeting notes, recommend tasks, and personalize highlights for individuals — whether they are in attendance or not. AI-generated chapters will organize meetings into sections, similar to divider slides in a presentation. 

For a limited time, it costs $7 a month to use. The price will eventually rise to $10 a month per user, according to Microsoft. 

The tool can also translate meetings into different languages in real time with captions for participants who don't know the language being spoken. That feature is available to all participants when the meeting organizer pays for a premium subscription. 

Microsoft is billing the advanced technology as a way for organizations to cut costs and boost workers' productivity. 

Microsoft also announced it will incorporate new generative AI functions into Viva Sales, its sales app. OpenAI's GPT-3.5 will generate email replies to businesses' customers to "give sellers a head start to keep the conversation moving to deal close," Microsoft said.

Concerns are swirling around what jobs ChatGPT could take away from humans as it demonstrates its ability to write coherent text based on virtually any prompt. Real estate professionals are using it to write listing descriptions, and business executives are using it to conduct research and to spot biases in their thinking and approaches to myriad challenges. The AI-bot even passed a law school exam and has authored legislation.