The market for generative AI chatbots is booming. While OpenAI’s ChatGPT is currently the most popular, Microsoft’s Copilot is trying to become the first choice for consumers, creative industries, and anyone interested in learning how AI can improve their daily lives.
How is Copilot different from Cortana?
Copilot replaced Cortana and offers advanced features. It is able to understand and respond to natural language queries, provide detailed explanations, analyze data, generate content such as code or images, and perform complex tasks in Microsoft applications.
Copilot thus offers much more functionality than Cortana. For example, it can generate a PowerPoint presentation from the information provided and compose emails and replies. If you are dealing with several emails from the same colleague on the same subject, Copilot can summarize all these communications.
Additionally, Copilot can help you prepare for meetings or provide a summary of missed discussions if you’re late to a Teams meeting.
The tool also supports the creation of budget proposals, project schedules, agendas, and SWOT analyses. Its ability to interpret and execute commands using natural language processing means that users do not need coding skills to use it effectively.
What does Copilot do?
Copilot is integrated with Windows and Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, improving productivity:
- Visualizations:Copilot helps users get started on creative projects by providing first drafts in Word, helping to create engaging PowerPoint presentations, and enabling quick data analysis and visualization in Excel.
- Productivity:Copilot reduces tedious work by summarizing email threads and composing replies in Outlook, providing real-time meeting summaries and action items in Teams, and enabling automation and app creation in Power Platform. GitHub data shows that Copilot significantly increases developer productivity.
- Chatbot:This new feature enables users to interact with all their Microsoft 365 apps and data (like calendars, email, and documents) using natural language commands to manage tasks and access information efficiently.
- Skills improvement:Copilot makes it easier to use the many features of Microsoft 365 by enabling commands to be executed through natural language, helping users improve their existing skills and learn new ones faster.
First launched as Bing Chat on February 7, 2023, as an add-on for Bing and Microsoft’s Edge browser, Copilot is built on OpenAI’s GPT-4 model.
At its launch in March, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella describe “Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and usher in a new wave of productivity growth. With our new copilot for work, we’re giving people more freedom to act and making technology more accessible through the most universal interface: natural language.”
What does the chatbot do with Microsoft applications?
Here’s what Copilot brings to your specific Microsoft applications:
- Microsoft Word: Copilot uses AI to compose text, review existing content, and condense key information into summaries.
- Power point: It transforms basic ideas into complete presentations, accompanied by detailed notes and quotes.
- Excel: The tool helps users discover insights, recognize patterns, and improve the efficiency of their spreadsheets.
- Teams: Video conferencing software uses Copilot to create real-time meeting summaries and identify actionable items, while taking into account the context of the conversation.
- Team phone numbers: Phone conversations can be summarized and important actions are noted in Teams Phone. It presents the main points of discussion and suggests next steps.
- Perspectives:It manages and streamlines Outlook inboxes, providing reply suggestions and summarizing threads.
- Power platform: Copilot supports developers of all skill levels in prototyping and developing low-code applications.
- Business Discussion: Copilot aggregates and processes data from various sources (documents, calendars, notes, presentations and contacts) to summarize conversations, identify crucial dates and write business plans and emails.
- Microsoft Loop: AI enhances all collaboration efforts by aligning data, summarizing information, and providing guidance to team members.
Is Microsoft Copilot free?
Copilot was introduced in Windows 11 as part of the September 26, 2023 Update. It is available at no additional cost to commercial Windows 11 users. There has been speculation that Windows 10 might eventually support Copilot integration, although Microsoft has yet to officially confirm this.
Microsoft offers a free version of Copilot and also offers a Copilot Pro subscription for $20 per month. The Pro version previously included advanced features like Copilot GPT Builder for creating custom chatbots and the ability to create high-resolution images. However, this option was discontinued in June.
The free version of Copilot offers limited features such as image creation in Designer, document and web page synthesis, plugin support, and data protection via Commercial Entra ID. It is accessible through specific platforms:
- Mobile app:Available on Google Play and the Apple App Store, users can interact with Copilot features like conversational search, image creation, and text generation on the go.
- Web application : It is a continuation of Bing Chat, now rebranded as Microsoft Copilot. Users can search, query, and customize results using various Copilot GPTs such as Designer and Fitness Trainer. Accessible through web browsers, it offers a free way to interact with generative AI.
- Copilot for Windows: Built into the latest versions of Windows, this version makes it easy to manage PC settings, interact with Copilot via text or voice, and perform tasks like shopping or writing essays for free.
- Co-pilot for Edge: Built into the Edge browser, this service uses GPT-4 to improve online search and provide generative AI features like image generation and story writing right in the browser.
What do the paid versions contain?
Microsoft 365 Copilot is available to all business users for $30 per user per month as of January 15, 2024. It was initially available only to Enterprise users. There is an annual option for $360, though this still requires an eligible Microsoft 365 plan.
The system works in conjunction with Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, and Excel. While Copilot is available for free at copilot.microsoft.com, make sure you access it through Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome for it to work properly.
The subscription includes all the features of Copilot Pro plus additional gadgets. It also extends Copilot to all Microsoft 365 apps, including Teams, as long as you have a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes Teams. It’s important to note that current Office plans don’t include Teams, as Microsoft has separated Teams from its Office suite. Users now have the option to purchase plans with or without the Teams collaboration app.
Is Copilot better than ChatGPT?
Shortly after ChatGPT launched, Microsoft unveiled an AI chatbot for its Bing search engine, first called Bing Chat and later renamed Copilot. This new tool offered more advanced options than ChatGPT, including free internet access, which was a big plus.
In May 2024, OpenAI responded by upgrading the free version of ChatGPT to include features that not only matched Copilot’s, but in some respects surpassed them. Despite these improvements, one of ChatGPT’s persistent problems was its inability to consistently verify the accuracy of its answers, as it generally did not cite sources. The May update allowed ChatGPT to access the internet, although it still only selectively provided source links.
At the same time, Copilot automatically integrates footnotes into its answers, directing users to the source material via web links, which helps build transparency and trust. Copilot is much like a search engine: its answers can include links and photos that add context and engage users. The images it generates also typically include additional information, improving the user experience.
However, this changed when OpenAI launched its new GPT-4o model in May 2024. This updated version has all the features of GPT-4, which already outperforms most AI models in its reasoning and coding, and introduces multimodal capabilities. GPT-4o can process and generate content in multiple formats, including text, audio, and images, recognizing text, audio, image, and video inputs.
With the upgrade, free users can now access the advanced system, which was previously limited to paid users.
Featured Image: Canva / Microsoft