The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that Microsoft is at the front of the race developing artificial intelligence. A Daily Telegraph dispatch to the Post reports that Microsoft was quick to back OpenAI, the start-up behind ChatGPT. Microsoft signed a deal to use OpenAI's technology in its Bing search engine and reportedly invested $10-billion in the company. ChatGPT offers Microsoft a chance to leapfrog Google in search, but the technology offers far more than just that. Chief executive officer Satya Nadella has said AI will shape everything the company does in future. Executives recently demonstrated ways in which they hope AI will boost its business. One example: The technology has been plugged into its Powerpoint software to help office workers complete hours of work on presentations in minutes. Copilot is Microsoft's name for its AI chatbot integrations. Copilot was first trialled commercially on Github, a Microsoft-owned collaboration website for software developers. Instead of humans writing code and then posting it to Github for others to critique, Microsoft used the GPT program to create a virtual assistant capable of writing software code all by itself in response to user prompts.