Microsoft Releases Fara1.5: A Family of Browser Computer-Use Agents (4B/9B/27B) That Outperform OpenAI Operator and Gemini 2.5 Computer Use on Online-Mind2Web

Microsoft is testing the addition of agentic AI to its corporate browser, Edge for Business. A new version, currently available in a limited preview, will help perform routine tasks more efficiently, according to Microsoft’s partner product manager for Edge, Lindsay Kubasik. Agentic AI will help with completing multi-step tasks such as filling in forms, navigating sites, or gathering information from different tabs, all using enterprise-managed tools, the company said. And a new tab page will pull together calendar entries, files and Copilot prompts, reducing the need to switch between tools, it said. A key feature of the new browser version will be its ability to protect corporate data. Enterprises will be able to block the use of copy and paste, and all AI prompts and responses will stay within their Microsoft 365 tenant and will not be used to train models, the company said. They will also be able to audit prompts and block sensitive uploads. The protections will apply as soon as us

Microsoft and EY will spend $1 billion on helping their customers adopt AI over the next five years. The billion will support assisting clients with pioneering AI projects and capability building, said EY’s global Microsoft alliance leader, Paul Clark. Clients will be able to access those resources based on their specific needs, he said. “We’re intentionally building the EY forward deployed engineer (FDE) capability through close collaboration and training with Microsoft, while maintaining integrated EY-Microsoft teams in the field,” he said in an email. “Clients will continue to experience this as one combined team, bringing together engineering depth and transformation expertise.” EY has acted as “client zero” in this initiative, embedding AI in all facets of its organization while it validated ways of working with Microsoft’s technologies. After an initial trial of Microsoft Copilot with 150,000 users, it is now rolling it out through Microsoft 365 E7 to all 400,000 staff. Its combi

Anthropic's potential use of Microsoft's AI chips could enhance AI model efficiency and bolster Microsoft's position in the custom chip market. The post Anthropic in talks to rent Microsoft AI chips amid rising demand for compute appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Tech titans appear to be cosying up to Canberra with an eye to training data models here. An AI wealth fund could share in the profits Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The CEOs of AI titans Microsoft and Anthropic have been duchessing Canberra. The reason? They have bet the house that we are at the beginning of an AI gold rush and they have a big problem: they need to find secure places to train their massive models. Having exhausted the US’s public tolerance for data centres and the eye-popping amount of energy and water they consume, these companies need stable bases to power these mega-data projects to drive their technology. This requires access to space, renewable energy and a stable political environment, resources that are in short supply globally. Continue reading...

The potential deal highlights the intensifying competition in AI hardware, impacting both centralized and decentralized computing strategies. The post Anthropic and Microsoft discuss AI chip deal after $5B investment appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The longtime partners expanded their relationship.

Anthropic's chip diversification strategy could reshape AI infrastructure, impacting decentralized computing networks and Web3 projects. The post Anthropic in talks to use Microsoft’s custom AI chips for inference workloads appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Anthropic's exploration of Microsoft's Maia chips signals a shift towards diversified AI infrastructure, intensifying cloud competition. The post Anthropic explores Azure servers with Microsoft’s Maia AI chips appeared first on Crypto Briefing.