Microsoft announces the general availability of its Copilot productivity AI tool. The initiative marks an important moment in the democratization of the AI-assisted assistant, promising to revolutionize the way individuals and organizations approach work. Among the potential benefits, Microsoft cites increasing productivity, reducing the learning curve, improving accessibility and spurring innovation. To mark the assistant's first anniversary, Microsoft has also updated the interface with a cleaner design and usability designed to enhance the user experience.
According to data from Microsoft's "Work Trend Index" tool, the average employee spends 57% of his or her time using communication applications. Around 25% of the heaviest email users spend 8.8 hours per week, while the heaviest meeting users spend 7.5 hours per week. Therefore, the demand for effective solutions is obvious. To meet this need, Microsoft has launched Copilot, a generative AI assistant initially integrated into Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and Windows 11.
Microsoft initially launched Bing Chat. And while the company later rebranded Bing Chat as Microsoft Copilot, the assistant was only available to businesses, Microsoft 365 customers and some Microsoft partners. Which sometimes left users confused. As part of Copilot's one-year anniversary, Microsoft is announcing that it is expanding the assistant's availability to all users, with a major new update to the experience on the web and in the Copilot app in the iOS and Android app stores. Microsoft said in a blog post:
Today, when you visit Copilot, you'll see a cleaner look and feel designed to help you bring your ideas to life and better understand the world. We've introduced a cleaner, sleeker look for answers and a fun new suggestion carousel to highlight the power of Copilot.
Today, it's been exactly one year since we embarked on AI-based experiences with Bing Chat. During this year, we've learned many new things and have seen the use of our Copilot experiences explode with over 5 billion cats and 5 billion images created to date, leading to sustained growth from Edge and Bing.
Now that Copilot is our unique experience for people looking to take full advantage of AI-assisted authoring, today we are introducing new imaging capabilities.
This means that Microsoft Copilot now offers three licensing levels: the totally free version of Copilot accessible to all, Copilot Pro (available to customers with the $20/month subscription or with a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family license) and the enterprise version. The free version gives access to the standard version of Copilot on all platforms, including GPT-3.5-based chat, and allows the use of plug-ins. This version of Copilot is also multimodal, i.e. it supports text, voice and images in conversations.
The standard version of Copilot offered free access to GPT-4, but Microsoft limited that access with the release of Copilot Pro earlier this year. A Copilot Pro subscription provides access to all of the wizard's features, including Microsoft 365 productivity apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. Copilot now integrates Designer (formerly Bing Chat Creator), a free AI-based tool that allows you to generate unique, customizable images with text prompts. It is based on DALL-E 3 technology, a great OpenAI language model.
Designer can be used to design birthday cards, invitations, custom artwork, interior decorating ideas, creative presentations and more. According to Microsoft, if you are a Copilot Pro subscriber, in addition to the above, you can now easily resize and regenerate images between square and landscape without leaving the chat. "Finally, we will soon be launching our new Designer GPT inside Copilot, which offers a dedicated immersive website inside Copilot where you can visualize your ideas," the blog post says.
TEAMS
- Quickly recap, identify follow-up tasks, create agendas and ask questions for more effective and focused meetings and calls.
- Summarize the key points of the meetings, see what you might have missed, and point out key people of interest in the chats.
Microsoft 365 Chat
- Find and use information that is buried in documents, presentations, emails, calendar invitations, notes and contacts.
- Summarize information across multiple sources such as recent customer interactions, meetings, shared content and deliverables.
- Prepare for a meeting based on topics and sources.
- Create a status update of the day's meetings, emails and chat discussions.
Copilot in PowerPoint
- Transform existing written content (such as documents, images and graphics) into decks complete with speaker notes and fonts.
- Start a new presentation from a prompt or outline.
- Condense and optimize presentations.
- Use natural language commands to adjust layouts, reformat text and time animations.
According to Microsoft, as a powerful "AI-powered companion," it assists users with tasks such as coding, typing, generating images and answering questions. The integration in Windows 11 allows users to access it directly from the taskbar or with a simple keyboard shortcut. Microsoft plans to add a new key to PC keyboards for the first time since 1994, the Copilot key. The key, which will be located next to the Windows key, will allow Copilot to be easily opened. This improves accessibility and usability for users.
Microsoft says it has extensively tested Copilot internally. "We're seeing immediate advantages and big payoffs. Our employees use it immediately. It immediately starts providing intelligent information that helps them master their work. We are pioneering the use of AI in our products. We are the first company in the world to launch Copilot on a large scale, and we collect a lot of information," said Claire Sisson, senior product manager at Microsoft Digital (MSD), Microsoft's internal IT organization.
According to analysts, this extension could have a significant impact on how individuals and organizations approach work, raising questions about opportunities, challenges and responsible development. However, while Copilot offers advantages, analysts say there are several potential drawbacks to consider before adopting it, such as lingering issues related to AI accuracy, privacy and security concerns, integration, and adjustments to skills training. Here are a few examples:
dependence on AI accuracy: Like any AI tool, Copilot depends on the accuracy and reliability of its algorithms, allowing inaccurate suggestions or misunderstandings ("hallucinations") of the AI to lead to errors or miscommunications in documents, presentations or other deliverables, which can harm productivity and quality;
privacy and data security concerns: companies should carefully examine privacy and data security implications, ensuring compliance with current regulations and protecting against potential data breaches or misuse.
lack of customization: companies with unique workflows or specialized tasks may find limited options for tailoring the tool's functionality to their exact needs;
learning curve and training: employees may need time to learn how to effectively leverage the tool's functionality and integrate it into their existing work processes, which could have a temporary impact on productivity and efficiency.
risk of over-reliance on AI: If AI assistance can improve productivity, it should complement human judgment and not replace it entirely. Over-reliance on AI can lead to a decline in critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills among employees.
cost considerations: implementation costs may vary. Companies should evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of adopting the tool in relation to the associated costs and determine whether the benefits outweigh the expenses.
integration challenges: companies with complex IT infrastructures or reliance on third-party tools may have integration difficulties and ensuring seamless interoperability with existing systems and workflows may require additional configuration or customization efforts.