Microsoft 365 Copilot: your AI assistant?

Microsoft has announced its new AI assistant that will be integrated into Microsoft 365 the coming months. The company says 'Microsoft 365 Copilot combines the power of large language models with your data … to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.'

How does Copilot help my business?

Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. Firstly, it is embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams etc. — to assist in document creation.

Secondly, Microsoft has announced a new 'experience': Business Chat. Business Chat uses your data for a personalised response. Users can give it natural language prompts such as "Tell my team how we updated the product strategy," and it will generate a status update based on the morning's meetings, emails and chat threads.

This video is an overview of how Microsoft sees Copilot working.

Is Copilot the same as ChatGPT?

Microsoft says it is 'Copilot is more than OpenAI's ChatGPT embedded into Microsoft 365. It's a sophisticated processing and orchestration engine working behind the scenes to combine the power of large language models, including GPT-4, with the Microsoft 365 apps and your business data in the Microsoft Graph - now accessible to everyone through natural language.'

Is my business data safe with Copilot?

Microsoft has taken a comprehensive approach to security, compliance and privacy. Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 and automatically inherits all your company's security, compliance, and privacy policies and processes. Two-factor authentication, compliance boundaries, privacy protections and more make Copilot the AI solution you can trust.

When will Copilot be available?

Microsoft seems keen to roll out Copilot as quickly as possible, while ensuring its testing and development ensures it works as intended. Microsoft are 'testing Copilot with a small group of customers to get feedback and improve our models as we scale, and [they] will expand to more soon.'

At this stage there no details on pricing with Microsoft stating that 'in the months ahead, we're bringing Copilot to all our productivity apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Viva, Power Platform, and more. We'll share more on pricing and licensing soon.'