Microsoft reported a significant 20 per cent increase in quarterly profits, which has bolstered its position in the competition against rivals like Google, Amazon, and Meta (parent company of Facebook) in the field of selling the latest artificial intelligence technology. The software giant’s fiscal fourth-quarter profit reached $20.1 billion, equivalent to $2.69 per share, surpassing the analysts’ expectations of $2.55 per share. Moreover, it achieved a revenue of $56.2 billion in the April-June period, marking an 8 per cent increase compared to the previous year and exceeding the forecasted revenue of $55.49 billion. Despite the positive financial results, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, acknowledged that the AI features added to their existing products, such as cloud computing services, workplace software, and Bing search engine, have not yet had a significant impact on their financial outcomes. However, the company has been actively investing in generative AI tools, capitalizing...