Microsoft will work with Publicis Groupe on the development of its artificial intelligence platform, Marcel ahead of the June release, the agency network has revealed while its chief executive, Arthur Sadoun has offered an update over half a year since it was announced.

Due to be revealed at Viva Tech this summer, the Groupe intends to develop Marcel as a tool which will combine the talents of its 80,000-strong workforce to the betterment of client projects, with Publicis.Sapient tasked with leading its architecture and design work. Microsoft has been tasked with building Marcel and will use its technology and AI capabilities while leveraging Microsoft Azure AI and Office 365.

In a memo updating the company on the progress of the project, Sadoun told Publicis staff that time has been spent defining exactly what Marcel would be; “It’s no secret that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not evenly distributed. Marcel will give us all the ability to participate and create beyond our immediate boundaries. We’ve already been beta-testing creative open-sourcing thanks to a lot of you through the M-Labs. We even have our first success story: Monica and Daniel from our Wysiwyg agency in Spain participated and have developed a transformative creative platform for Walmart, one of the biggest and most iconic brands in the world,” he revealed.

Sadoun explained the need for partnering with Microsoft; "They have unparalleled resources, capabilities and expertise in artificial intelligence. But we also chose Microsoft because they saw this as a true partnership, between two companies who have the same ambition: to radically change the way each of their industries work. It’s this shared vision that will help turn Marcel into a real transformative force for our Groupe. And of course, in our line of work, nothing is more important than people. The teams Microsoft has dedicated to Marcel are second to none, and we have the personal commitment of Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, to follow the development from A-Z. I don’t need to tell you that this makes all the difference.”

Sadoun continued with a rallying call to Publicis staff, explaining that they would be involved in more initiatives to test and prototype ideas for the platform.

“Through M-Labs, we have already piloted a few concepts and involved hundreds of people. We are planning to accelerate and multiply these initiatives and more and more of you will be involved in co-creating Marcel, before the next major step: the public presentation of Marcel in May at Viva Tech, our international innovation event. I would like to leave you with a more personal thought. I am often asked why we decided to create Marcel. After all, no one forced us to and it is a complicated and even risky initiative. My response is always the same: we created Marcel because we believe that people no longer just work for companies. Companies need to work for their people,” he concluded.

“AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our time, but its real power lies in how it can be applied to amplify human ingenuity. And that’s the beauty of Marcel,” said Microsoft chief, Nadella. “At Microsoft, we believe that people no longer just work for companies – companies need to work for their people. Marcel embodies that belief. That’s what makes this collaboration so seamless and natural.”

The unveiling of Marcel will take place on 24 May at Viva Tech in Paris.