Because it is difficult to predict where all this is going, it is probably the long -term advantage of Microsoft to develop its own models.
It is also possible that Microsoft has introduced these models to tackle use cases or questions on which OpenAi is not aimed. We see a gradual shift in the AI landscape to models that are more specialized for certain tasks, instead of general, all-purps models that are intended as all things for all people.
These new models follow that somewhat, as Microsoft Ai Lead Mustafa Suleyman said in a podcast with the rack that the goal here is “creating something that works extremely well for consumers … My focus is on building models that really work for consumer companions.”
As such, it makes sense that we will see these models rolling out in Copilot, which is Microsoft's consumer-oriented AI Chatbot product. The Microsoft AI blog post indicates from Mai-1-Preview: “This model is designed to offer powerful possibilities to consumers who want to benefit from models that specialize in following instructions and offering useful answers to daily questions.”
So, yes, Mai-1 preview has a target group in mind, but it is still a general model because Copilot is a tool for general purposes.
Mai-voice-1 is already used in Microsoft's Copilot Daily and Podcasts functions. There is also a Copilot Labs interface that you can now visit to play with, give it to prompts or scripts and to adjust what kind of voice or delivery you want to hear.
MA1-1 preview is in public testing on Lmarena and will be rolled out to “certain text use outings within Copilot in the coming weeks.”
