Microsoft has dominated the tech information cycle in latest months, due to its $10 billion funding in ChatGPT creator OpenAI and a flurry of latest releases like Bing Chat. The Redmond large 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 will sound too good to be true, however Microsoft’s early demos look promising.
So on this article, let’s take a better have a look at Microsoft 365 Copilot, what it could possibly do, and the way you need to use it.
What’s 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 numerous Microsoft 365 apps, together with Phrase, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
For context, right here’s a fast rundown of Microsoft 365 Copilot’s capabilities:
- Copilot can write total paperwork primarily based on a brief immediate. For instance, you would say “Draft a canopy letter for the position of a senior software program developer”.
- In PowerPoint, Copilot may also help scale back the quantity of textual content in slides, add AI-generated photographs, and scale back a protracted presentation to a handful of slides.
While you’re coping with massive quantities of knowledge in Excel, you would ask Copilot to rapidly analyze it and create an easily-digestible visualization. - In case your office makes use of Microsoft Groups, you’ll be able to ask Copilot to summarize a gathering, atone for unread chats, and even ask about particular person crew members.
- In Microsoft’s e-mail app Outlook, you’ll be able to depend on Copilot to tailor your writing to sound skilled, pleasant, or a selected tone of your selection. You may as well ask the AI to jot down a draft, eliminating the entire onerous work.
- For digital note-takers, Microsoft has additionally built-in Copilot into OneNote and Loop. You possibly can consider this integration as a digital assistant which you could ask to rapidly type, search, and summarize your notes.
Moreover these remoted examples, Microsoft has additionally developed Copilot to work seamlessly throughout the complete app suite. So for instance, you would create a brand new Phrase doc and ask Copilot to draft a report primarily based on a unique Excel file. Likewise, you’ll be capable to ask Copilot to convey notes from Microsoft Groups 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 known as Duet AI for Workspace. Nevertheless, it’s not as absolutely featured because the examples we’ve seen from Microsoft to this point. Issues 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
Total Microsoft 365 Workplace suite plus Microsoft Groups |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Google Meet |
|
Interoperability |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Can reference recordsdata throughout different Microsoft apps |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
At present restricted; Duet AI can’t see the contents of a unique doc or file |
|
Picture technology |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Sure, by way of OpenAI’s Dall-E 2 picture generator |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Sure, presumed by way of Adobe Firefly |
|
Language mannequin |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
OpenAI GPT-4 |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Google PaLM 2 |
|
Present availability |
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Closed, personal testing for paid clients |
Google Duet AI for Workspace
Out there to basic public at no cost by way of waitlist |
Microsoft 365 Copilot launch date and value
Copilot in OneNote
Whereas 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 decide to a concrete launch date on the time. Quick ahead a couple of 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.
To this point, the corporate has introduced the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Entry Program. Nevertheless, in contrast to the Bing Chat waitlist or Google’s Bard chatbot that slowly rolled out, Microsoft isn’t letting anybody from most people signal as much as entry Copilot. As an alternative, it’s an invitation-only program for an unique group of 600 paying clients. That’s proper — you and I can’t merely join to make use of Microsoft 365 Copilot at no cost.
It is unclear if Microsoft 365 Copilot shall be free to make use of.
At this level, it’s unclear if Microsoft 365 Copilot will ever grow to be free to make use of. However primarily based on the corporate’s aggressive AI push with its chatbot and Bing Picture Creator, it could occur. Microsoft additionally faces some competitors from Google, the place anybody can freely be part of a waitlist to entry generative AI in Google Search, Gmail and Docs proper now.
On the flip facet, nonetheless, Microsoft’s AI options value cash to function. Massive language fashions, particularly superior ones like GPT-4, eat plenty of computing assets. So from that perspective, it’s simple to see why you might want a Microsoft 365 subscription to make use of Copilot.
