Microsoft’s new AI Copilot incorporates all the best bits of AI technology. Built on OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model, also featured in Bing Chat, Copilot promises to enhance the worlds most popular office apps with artificial intelligence. Copilot will be introduced into the tech firm’s popular applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more. Set to release today, November 1st, What is Microsoft 365 Copilot, and what features can we expect to roll out “this week”?

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Copilot is an AI-powered assistant that is seeing integrating across every suite of Microsoft softwares. Copilot has already been introduced to Bing, Edge, and Windows (the firms search engine, web browser, and operating system) as of September 26th, 2023. Now, that same Copilot system is coming to office softwares Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and more!

According to the creators, the new suite of Microsoft apps will become the “most powerful productivity tool on the planet”. This is a pretty bold statement, but what will this new platform actually look like? Well, alongside Microsoft blog posts, the Microsoft Inspire event on July 18th, there is a lot more information about the capabilities and pricing of this impressive AI.

Using generative AI, Copilot can automate processes across the 365 suite and offer creative solutions to workers. This includes anything from writing a first draft in Word, creating presentations in PowerPoint, to summarizing email threads in Outlook. There is clearly some belief in the success of the model, with Microsoft shares rising 5.8% following the announcement of Copilot.

Essential AI Tools

What are the Microsoft 365 Copilot features?

The new Copilot is an artificial intelligence workflow tool that will be embedded in Microsoft’s suite of apps. It will essentially enable you to automate a bunch of tasks, cleverly using your business’s documents and data from Microsoft Graph.

Here are a few examples of what the new Copilot can do:

• Write, edit, and summarise text in Word
• Create PowerPoints using natural language commands
• Help you find insights, analyze trends and create stunning data visualizations in Excel
• Manage your inbox and calendar in Outlook
• Generate real-time summaries and create actionable tasks during Teams meetings

An additional feature called Business Chat will also be powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 LLM, bringing together all of your business data and apps to help you find the information and insights you need without lifting a finger. Microsoft Copilot uses the power of next-generation AI to optimize business performance and could end up transforming the way we integrate AI across our business workflows.

In a substantially successful onboarding effort, the world has had the opportunity to try out Copilot without premium licenses via the new version of Bing Chat. While not a part of Microsoft 365, the sophisticated processing of natural language prompts has built confidence in Bing Chat Enterprise, and its customer data / commercial data protection via chat threads also featured in 365 softwares.

How much does Microsoft 365 Copilot cost? — Pricing confirmed

Microsoft 365 Copilot is available for commercial customers for $30 per user per month for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium customers. Copilot for Microsoft 365 begins rollout today, November 1st 2023, starting with its largest corporate customers, and extending to all Microsoft 365 customers before the end of the year.

Final Thoughts

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the tech giant’s next-generation AI suite of productivity tools. Powered by OpenAI’s large language models, just like the infamous OpenAI’s ChatGPT, these new apps will completely revolutionize the way people work.

Interestingly, Windows Central reported that Copilot generated an “entire document which passed plagiarism tests”. This result is clearly exciting for students but seemingly alarming for any educational institution – it will definitely be interesting to see how Microsoft deals with that!

There’s no denying it, the new Microsoft 365 Copilot looks like a pretty powerful tool. If you’re interested in using it in your business, with a confirmed release date of November 1st, 2023, the rollout begins today!

• NOW READ What is GPT 4? What can it do?

About the Author

Funmi Somoye

Funmi joined PC Guide in November 2022, and was a driving force for the site's ChatGPT coverage. She has a wide knowledge of AI apps, gaming and consumer technology.