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Microsoft atthis weeksIgnite conferenceunveiled new Copilot Studio features aimed at both expanding the functionality of AI agents createdwiththe application and improving the accuracy of outputs.Copilot Studio wasunveiled at last years eventas a way to customize Microsofts generative AI(genAI)copilot assistants for different business use cases. Since then,the companyhas stepped up its messaging aroundAI agents that can perform a wider variety of taskson behalf of workers.Among thelatestupdates to Copilot Studio is the ability to connect agents to third-party applications such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk.The goal is toprovide access to real-time knowledge that helps answer complex questions, Microsoft said. Thatfeature is now in preview.[ Related: Microsoft Ignite 2024 news and insights ]In addition, Copilot Studio now integrates with the newAzure AI Foundryto enable access to a wider range of data within an organization, Omar Aftab, vice president ofconversational AI at Microsoft,saidin ablog post. By connecting all their data sources, organizations can see that agents are more grounded in their business data and provide specific, high-quality responses, he said.There are also new multimodal AI enhancements to Copilot Studio agents.Users canembed an agent built in Copilot Studio into an interactive voice system (used in automated voice calls for customer service, for example) to create speech enabled agents, said Aftab.These can also be embedded in various applications, standalone kiosks, concierge systems, and more, he said. And Copilot Studio agents can now analyze images, allowing users to upload files and ask questions aboutthem.Microsoft has also opened accessin a public previewto autonomous agent builder tools in Copilot Studio, asannounced last month. Makers can now build agents that work on their behalf, without having to prompt the agent, saving human hours and increasing efficiency, said Aftab. They can create these agents from scratch or configure agents that are prebuilt in Copilot Studio.Theres an agent library to help users get started,too, (also in public preview), with pre-built agents tailored to common work processes such as leave management, sales orders and deal acceleration, Microsoft said.Among the other announcements Tuesday is the ability to build customized agents with a streamlined Copilot Studio experience thats now embedded in the BizChat interface of Microsoft 365 Copilot. These agents are created using natural language directions, and can be given access to enterprise data held in apps such as Dynamics 365 and SharePoint. There are also pre-built agents,includingan Employee Self-Service agent.Copilot Studio can address some of the shortcomings of a horizontal tool such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, which often requires a lot of guidance to access the right data, and may produce hallucinations,said J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester.The Copilot Studio tools help to fill this gap by allowing organizations to create more finely tuned solutions that nevertheless are a lot easier and cheaper than training a model from scratch, he said.Improved tuning and sourcing in Copilot Studio allows more retrieval augmented generation(RAG)-based approaches, said Gownder, which specifies data more precisely, reducing the likelihood of both vague outputs and hallucinations. The ability to use custom Azure AI Search indexes as a knowledge sourceforcustom RAG scenariosanother of the Copilot Studio updates at Igniteallows for more specific, contextual, and accurate outcomes, he said.Being able to then take these Copilot Studio agents and plug them into Microsoft 365 Copilot could democratize some of these innovations, allowing employees to tap into them right in their flow of work, said Gownder.This heightened context, accuracy, and specificity could solve some of the problems that enterprise leaders have cited as downsides to M365 Copilot.Microsoft has rolled out a lot of Copilot solutions with sunny story lines that enterprises arent always able to replicate in their own environments, said Gownder. So, while the Copilot Studio announcements sound promising, we must wait and see if they truly work as advertised to create value.

Once again, global greenhouse-gas emissions are projected to hit a new high in 2024.In this time of shifting political landscapes and ongoing international negotiations, many are quick to blame one country or another for an outsize role in causing climate change. But assigning responsibility is complicated. These three visualizations help explain why and provide some perspective about the worlds biggest polluters.Greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuels and industry reached 37.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, according to projections from the Global Carbon Budget, an annual emissions report released last week. Thats a 0.8% increase over last year.Breaking things down by country, China is far and away the single biggest polluter today, a distinction it has held since 2006. The country currently emits roughly twice as much greenhouse gas as any other nation. The power sector is its single greatest source of emissions as the grid is heavily dependent on coal, the most polluting fossil fuel.The US is the worlds second-biggest polluter, followed by India. Combined emissions from the 27 nations that make up the European Union are next, followed by Russia and Japan.Considering a countrys current emissions doesnt give the whole picture of its climate responsibility, though. Carbon dioxide is stable in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. That means greenhouse gases from the first coal power plant, which opened in the late 19th century, are still having a warming effect on the planet today.Adding up each countrys emissions over the course of its history reveals that the US has the greatest historical contributionthe country is responsible for about 24% of all the climate pollution released into the atmosphere as of 2023. While its the biggest polluter today, China comes in second in terms of historical emissions, at 14%.If the EUs member states are totaled as one entity, the group is among the top historical contributors as well. According to an analysis published November 19 by the website Carbon Brief, China passed EU member states in terms of historical emissions in 2023 for the first time.China could catch up with the West in the coming decades, as its emissions are significant and still growing, while the US and EU are seeing moderate declines.Even then, though, theres another factor to consider: population. Dividing a countrys total emissions by its population reveals how the average individual in each nation is contributing to climate change today.Countries with smaller populations and economies that are heavily reliant on oil and gas tend to top this list, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.Among the larger nations, Australia has the highest per capita emissions from fossil fuels, with the US and Canada close behind. Meanwhile, other countries that have high total emissions are farther down the list when normalized by population: Chinas per capita emissions are just over half that of the US, while Indias is a small fraction.Understanding the complicated picture of global emissions is crucial, especially during ongoing negotiations (including the current meeting at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan) over how to help developing nations pay for efforts to combat climate change.Looking at current emissions, one might expect the biggest emitter, China, to contribute more than any other country to climate finance. But considering historical contributions, per capita emissions, and details about national economies, other nations like the US, UK, and members of the EU emerge as those experts tend to say should feature prominently in the talks.What is clear is that when it comes to the emissions blame game, its more complicated than just pointing at todays biggest polluters. Ultimately, addressing climate change will require everyone to get on boardwe all share an atmosphere, and were all going to continue feeling the effects of a changing climate.Notes on data methodology:Emissions data is from the Global Carbon Project, which estimates carbon emissions based on energy use. Territorial emissions take into account energy and some industry, but dont include land use emissions.Data from the European Union is the sum of its current 27 member states. The bloc is represented together because the EU generally negotiates together on the international stage.Historical emissions for some countries are disaggregated from former borders, including the former USSR and Yugoslavia.The per capita emissions map uses official World Bank boundaries, with the exception of Taiwan, which has separate emissions data in the Global Carbon Project.Western Saharas energy data are reported by Morocco, so its emissions are included in that total. Per capita emissions for Morocco are also used for Western Sahara on the map.More detailed information about the Global Carbon Project methods (including the particulars on how territorial emissions are broken down) is available here.

If you want the Apple Studio Display, you should consider getting it now, as it's currently available at a massive $300 discount.Save $300 on the Apple Studio DisplayThe Apple Studio Display offers consumers an Apple-designed screen for their Mac, without necessarily paying the high price of the Pro Display XDR. If you're quick, that price can be even less.Buy for $1,299.99 Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

XProtect is Apple's Mac virus detection system which keeps your Mac safe. Here's how the protective macOS feature works.XProtect is macOS's malware scaning tool.Viruses and other malware are a constant threat to computers, which web surfers have to work around every time they go online.A computer virus is a small piece of code that gets silently installed onto your computer. One where it runs or embeds itself into other software and causes havoc. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Populous have revealed initial renders of their proposal for the King Salman Stadium Masterplan in Riyadh, part of Saudi Arabias Vision 2030https://www.e-architect.com/saudiarabia/king-salman-stadium-masterplan-riyadh#stadium #masterplan #riyadh #saudiarabia #architecturePopulous have revealed initial renders of their proposal for the King Salman Stadium Masterplan in Riyadh, part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030

Design for resilience with concrete masonry Balancing safety, durability, and affordability, CMUs help meet climate challenges head-on. #ResilientDesign #ConcreteMasonry #BuildingForTomorrow #SustainableConstruction #Sponsored #ZondaMediaIntelDesigning resilient, durable structures with concrete masonry balance safety, affordability, and climate challenges.

Design for resilience with concrete masonry Balancing safety, durability, and affordability, CMUs help meet climate challenges head-on. #ResilientDesign #ConcreteMasonry #BuildingForTomorrow #SustainableConstruction #Sponsored #ZondaMediaIntelDesigning resilient, durable structures with concrete masonry balance safety, affordability, and climate challenges.

This semester, a group of students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design is taking a survey of U.S. architecture graduate visa holders in the workplace for a research project that's part of their coursework for assistant professor Jacob Reidel's "Frameworks of Practice"seminar.They are inviting participants to answer a series of anonymous questions related to their experience as workplace visa holders. The aim, they say, is to produce a snapshot of how immigration status affects both entry-level career choices for architecture graduates and long-term career planning.The students share: "The original idea came from conversations with peers about how, in the field of architecture, visa status makes workers feel like they are in a precarious position and our preliminary qualitative interviews have supported this. We hope that this research can draw attention to the situation and offer both workers and employers new statistics to work towards compassionate decision-making in offic...