How Microsoft Is Applying AI for Enterprise Digital Transformation

Microsoft demonstrates how it is using artificial intelligence to help customers solve today’s most pressing problems.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said a mobile-first, cloud-first strategy is the first step to digital transformation.

Microsoft says artificial intelligence can help to accelerate organizations’ move toward digital transformation.

There are four core pillars to democratizing AI: agents, applications, services and infrastructure, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft is infusing its Cortana personal assistant with AI, which Nadella said he thinks of as a third runtime. “It’s the new organizing layer,” he said. “It’s what helps mediate the human computer interaction, your ability to get to applications and information.”

“We infuse every application—Cortana, Office 365, Dynamics 365—with intelligence,” said Nadella.

Mile IQ is an AI-infused mileage tracking and logging app Microsoft acquired in November 2015. Mile IQ uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to filter personal and business mileage based on time, day and other factors.

Microsoft Outlook’s Focused Inbox applies a custom neural network model that understands users’ inboxes. Focused Inbox helps you focus on the emails that matter most to you. It separates your inbox into two tabs—Focused and Other.

Skype Translator is a speech-to-speech translation application that uses deep learning and other AI technologies.

Tap for Word and Outlook uses Microsoft Graph to make it easier to incorporate content from existing documents within your organization into your own documents and emails. Tap understands the content you’re writing.

MyAnalytics (formerly Delve Analytics) is a personal analytics service in Office 365 that helps people understand how they spend time at work. New capabilities provide team members and leaders with insights to help find better ways of working together.

Microsoft Graph is a unified API endpoint for accessing data, intelligence and insights across the Microsoft cloud.

Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence Suite is aimed at helping customers use big data, advanced analytics and machine learning technologies in the cloud to derive insights, predict outcomes and prescribe actions based on their data.

Cortana Intelligence provides an end-to-end set of cloud services and preconfigured solutions to enable line-of-business departments.

More than 45,000 developers are now using the Microsoft Bot Framework, which provides developers with the tools to build and connect intelligent bots.

NFL Hall of Famer “Primetime” “Neon Deion” Sanders himself graced the Ignite stage, joining Nadella to talk about a fantasy football bot created with Microsoft technology.

Volvo has been working with Microsoft Cortana Intelligence technologies to understand how the company can recognize distracted driving and then give driver feedback because it wants to design cars that can help drivers not be distracted.

Lowe’s is using Cortana Intelligence to deliver a digitally enhanced kitchen remodel experience using AI and Microsoft HoloLens.

Microsoft is looking at what is possible with intelligence and machine learning using custom-developed field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), spanning 15 countries and five continents. These FPGAs could be used to accelerate AI to near real time.