Microsoft has dominated the tech information cycle in latest months, thanks to its $10 billion funding in ChatGPT creator OpenAI and a flurry of latest releases like Bing Chat. The Redmond big isn’t stopping there both because it’s now poised to roll out a brand new AI-powered assistant in its workplace suite. Dubbed Microsoft 365 Copilot, the function will automate duties like writing emails, summarizing conferences, and even making lovely PowerPoint shows. All of this may increasingly sound too good to be true, however Microsoft’s early demos look promising.
So on this article, let’s take a more in-depth have a look at Microsoft 365 Copilot, what it may possibly do, and how you should use it.
What is Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a brand new generative AI function that assists with work duties like writing paperwork, modifying spreadsheets, and summarizing conferences. You’ll discover it inside varied Microsoft 365 apps, together with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
For context, right here’s a fast rundown of Microsoft 365 Copilot’s capabilities:
- Copilot can write whole paperwork based mostly on a brief immediate. For instance, you would say “Draft a cover letter for the role of a senior software developer”.
- In PowerPoint, Copilot may also help cut back the quantity of textual content in slides, add AI-generated photos, and cut back a protracted presentation to a handful of slides.
When you’re coping with massive quantities of information in Excel, you would ask Copilot to rapidly analyze it and create an easily-digestible visualization. - If your office makes use of Microsoft Teams, you may ask Copilot to summarize a gathering, atone for unread chats, and even ask about particular person group members.
- In Microsoft’s electronic mail app Outlook, you may depend on Copilot to tailor your writing to sound skilled, pleasant, or a selected tone of your selection. You may also ask the AI to write a draft, eliminating the entire arduous work.
- For digital note-takers, Microsoft has additionally built-in Copilot into OneNote and Loop. You can consider this integration as a digital assistant that you would be able to ask to rapidly kind, search, and summarize your notes.
Besides these remoted examples, Microsoft has additionally developed Copilot to work seamlessly throughout the whole app suite. So for instance, you would create a brand new Word doc and ask Copilot to draft a report based mostly on a unique Excel file. Likewise, you’ll have the option to ask Copilot to deliver notes from Microsoft Teams into OneNote and summarize the textual content earlier than including it to a be aware.
Microsoft 365 Copilot vs Google Duet AI for Workspace: What’s the distinction?
If the idea of Microsoft 365 Copilot sounds acquainted, that’s as a result of Google already has a competing function referred to as Duet AI for Workspace. However, it’s not as absolutely featured because the examples we’ve seen from Microsoft up to now. Things could enhance sooner or later, however because it stands, right here’s a fast comparability between Google and Microsoft’s AI-powered productiveness options:
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Google Duet AI for Workspace | |
|---|---|---|
|
Supported apps |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Entire Microsoft 365 Office suite plus Microsoft Teams |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Google Meet |
|
Interoperability |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Can reference information throughout different Microsoft apps |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Currently restricted; Duet AI can not see the contents of a unique doc or file |
|
Image technology |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Yes, through OpenAI’s Dall-E 2 picture generator |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Yes, presumed through Adobe Firefly |
|
Language mannequin |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
OpenAI GPT-4 |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Google PaLM 2 |
|
Current availability |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Closed, personal testing for paid prospects |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Available to basic public totally free through waitlist |
Microsoft 365 Copilot launch date and value
Copilot in OneNote
While Microsoft 365 Copilot appears extraordinarily promising on paper, the corporate hasn’t opened up entry to it simply but. It first introduced the function in March 2023 however didn’t commit to a concrete launch date on the time. Fast ahead just a few months later and Microsoft has solely simply began rolling out the function to a closed group of trusted testers. We noticed Google undertake an analogous technique within the early days of its generative AI function too.
So far, the corporate has introduced the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program. However, not like the Bing Chat waitlist or Google’s Bard chatbot that slowly rolled out, Microsoft isn’t letting anybody from most of the people join to entry Copilot. Instead, it’s an invitation-only program for an unique group of 600 paying prospects. That’s proper — you and I can’t merely join to use Microsoft 365 Copilot totally free.
It’s unclear if Microsoft 365 Copilot might be free to use.
At this level, it’s unclear if Microsoft 365 Copilot will ever develop into free to use. But based mostly on the corporate’s aggressive AI push with its chatbot and Bing Image Creator, it might occur. Microsoft additionally faces some competitors from Google, the place anybody can freely be a part of a waitlist to entry generative AI in Google Search, Gmail and Docs proper now.
On the flip aspect, nonetheless, Microsoft’s AI options value cash to function. Large language fashions, particularly superior ones like GPT-4, eat plenty of computing assets. So from that perspective, it’s straightforward to see why you might want a Microsoft 365 subscription to use Copilot.