What is Microsoft’s Copilot? Here’s everything you need to know about the AI assistant

The marketplace for generative AI chatbots is increasing shortly. Though OpenAI’s ChatGPT is at present the most well-liked, Microsoft’s Copilot is trying to develop into the best choice for most of the people, artistic industries, and anybody occupied with exploring how synthetic intelligence could make the most effective of their day by day lives.

How is Copilot totally different to Cortana?

Copilot has changed Cortana and comes with superior options. It is ready to perceive and reply to pure language queries, present detailed explanations, analyze knowledge, generate content material akin to code or pictures, and undertake advanced duties throughout Microsoft functions.

Because of this, Copilot presents much more functionalities than Cortana. For instance, it will possibly generate a PowerPoint presentation from the supplied data, and craft emails and responses. For those who’re coping with a number of emails from the identical colleague on a single topic, Copilot can summarize all these communications.

As well as, Copilot can help with assembly preparations or present a abstract of missed discussions if you happen to’re late to a Groups assembly.

The software additionally helps the creation of finances proposals, mission timelines, agendas, and SWOT analyses. Its means to interpret and execute instructions utilizing pure language processing means customers don’t require coding expertise to make use of it successfully.

What does Copilot do?

Copilot is built-in inside Home windows and Microsoft 365 apps like Phrase, Excel, and PowerPoint, bettering productiveness:

• Visualizations: Copilot helps customers begin artistic initiatives by offering first drafts in Phrase, helping in creating participating PowerPoint shows, and enabling fast knowledge evaluation and visualization in Excel.
• Productiveness: Copilot reduces busywork by summarizing e-mail threads and drafting responses in Outlook, offering real-time assembly summaries and motion gadgets in Groups, and enabling automation and utility creation in Energy Platform. GitHub knowledge signifies that Copilot considerably will increase productiveness amongst builders.
• Chatbot: This new function permits customers to work together with all their Microsoft 365 apps and knowledge (like calendars, emails, and paperwork) utilizing pure language instructions to handle duties and entry data effectively.
• Upskilling: Copilot simplifies the usage of Microsoft 365’s intensive performance by enabling command execution by pure language, serving to customers enhance their current expertise and be taught new ones extra shortly.

First launched as Bing Chat on February 7, 2023, as an add-on for Bing and Microsoft’s Edge browser, Copilot is developed on OpenAI’s GPT-4 model.

Throughout its rollout in March, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described it as a “main step,” stating, “At present marks the following main step within the evolution of how we work together with computing, which is able to basically change the way in which we work and unlock a brand new wave of productiveness progress. With our new copilot for work, we’re giving individuals extra company and making expertise extra accessible by probably the most common interface — pure language.”

What does chatbot do with Microsoft apps?

Right here’s what Copilot brings to your particular Microsoft apps:

• Microsoft Phrase: Copilot makes use of AI to compose textual content, revise existing content, and condense key data into summaries.
• PowerPoint: It transforms primary concepts into complete shows, full with detailed speaker notes and citations.
• Excel: The software helps customers uncover insights, acknowledge patterns, and enhance the effectiveness of their spreadsheets.
• Groups: The video conferencing software program makes use of Copilot by creating real-time assembly summaries and figuring out actionable gadgets, all whereas contemplating the dialog’s context.
• Groups cellphone: Telephone conversations will be summarized and essential motion gadgets are famous in Groups Telephone. It showcases key dialogue factors and suggests subsequent steps.
• Outlook: It manages and streamlines Outlook inboxes, offering response ideas and summarizing e-mail threads.
• Energy Platform: Copilot helps builders of all talent ranges in prototyping and creating low-code functions.
• Enterprise chat: Copilot aggregates and processes knowledge from numerous sources—paperwork, calendars, notes, shows, and contacts—to summarize conversations, pinpoint essential dates, and draft enterprise plans and emails.
• Microsoft Loop: AI improves any collaborative efforts by aligning knowledge, summarizing data, and offering steering to crew members.

Is Microsoft Copilot free?

Copilot was introduced to Windows 11 as a part of the replace on September 26, 2023. It’s obtainable at no added value for industrial customers of Home windows 11. There was hypothesis that Home windows 10 may ultimately assist Copilot integration, although Microsoft has not formally confirmed this but.

Microsoft supplies a free model of Copilot and in addition presents a Copilot Pro subscription for $20 per 30 days. The Professional model used to incorporate superior options such because the Copilot GPT Builder for creating customized chatbots and the potential for higher-resolution picture creation. Nevertheless, this was discontinued in June.

The free model of Copilot has restricted options akin to picture creation in Designer, doc and webpage summarization, plugin assist, and knowledge safety through Industrial Entra ID. It’s accessible by particular platforms:

• Cell app: Obtainable on Google Play and the Apple App Retailer, customers can work together with Copilot options like conversational search, picture creation, and textual content technology on the go.
• Net app: This can be a continuation of Bing Chat, now rebranded as Microsoft Copilot. Customers can search, query, and customise of outputs utilizing numerous Copilot GPTs akin to Designer and Health Coach. Accessible through net browsers, it supplies a free method to have interaction with generative AI.
• Copilot for Home windows: Built-in into the newest variations of Home windows, this model makes it simple to handle PC settings, work together with Copilot through textual content or voice, and carry out duties like purchasing or writing essays at no cost.
• Copilot for Edge: Constructed into the Edge browser, this service makes use of GPT-4 to improve on-line looking and supply generative AI options like picture technology and story writing straight inside the browser.

What do the paid variations embody?

Microsoft 365 Copilot turned obtainable for all enterprise customers for $30 per consumer per 30 days, beginning January 15, 2024. At first, it was solely open to Enterprise customers. There’s an annual choice for $360, although this nonetheless requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan.

The system works along with Microsoft 365 apps like Phrase, Outlook, Groups, PowerPoint, and Excel. Though Copilot is offered at no cost at copilot.microsoft.com, be sure you entry it utilizing Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome for it to work easily.

The subscription consists of all of the options of Copilot Professional together with extra devices. It additionally extends Copilot to all Microsoft 365 apps, together with Groups, supplied you have got a Microsoft 365 subscription that features Groups. It’s essential to notice that present Workplace plans don’t embody Groups, as Microsoft has separated Groups from its Workplace suite. Customers now have the choice to buy plans both with or with out the Groups collaboration app.

Is Copilot higher than ChatGPT?

Shortly after the launch of ChatGPT, Microsoft unveiled an AI chatbot for its Bing search engine, first named Bing Chat however later rebranded as Copilot. This new software gave extra superior choices over ChatGPT, most notably free web entry which supplied a substantial edge.

By Could 2024, OpenAI responded by upgrading the free model of ChatGPT to incorporate options that not solely matched however in some features, surpassed these of Copilot. Regardless of these enhancements, one persistent difficulty with ChatGPT was its incapability to persistently confirm the accuracy of its responses, because it doesn’t typically cite sources. The Could replace allowed ChatGPT to entry the web, though it nonetheless supplied supply hyperlinks solely selectively.

In the meantime, Copilot routinely embeds footnotes in its responses, directing customers to the supply materials through net hyperlinks, which helps with transparency and belief. Copilot is very similar to a search engine, its replies can embody hyperlinks and photographs that add context and have interaction customers. The photographs it generates additionally normally embody extra data, bettering the consumer expertise.

Nevertheless, this modified when OpenAI launched its new GPT-4o model in Could 2024. This up to date model has all of the bells and whistles of GPT-4, which already outshines most AI fashions for its reasoning and coding, and introduces multimodal capabilities. GPT-4o can course of and generate content material throughout a number of codecs, together with textual content, audio, and pictures, recognizing inputs from textual content, audio, pictures, and video.

Due to the improve, free customers can now entry the superior system, which was beforehand restricted to paid customers.

Featured picture: Canva / Microsoft