Microsoft simply celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. The tech big’s success story means it is now sometimes called one of many Big Tech Big Five or Magnificent Seven firms, given Microsoft’s central position within the evolution of private computing within the final 5 many years. And now, it is on the prime of the unreal intelligence recreation as properly.
Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched in November 2022, tech firms have been delving into the potential of generative AI. Microsoft joined forces with OpenAI for a multiyear, multibillion-dollar funding. One of the outcomes of this partnership is the creation of Microsoft’s personal AI device, Copilot.
Copilot launched in 2023 as a successor to Bing Chat, which, in a approach, advanced from Cortana, although it used a distinct underlying expertise. But you get my level: Microsoft’s digital assistants have had a protracted evolution.
Microsoft did have a few false begins with AI, although — like its Recall characteristic, which was rapidly dropped from Copilot Plus PCs (although Microsoft mentioned final week it is able to attempt once more with Recall). But I’ll discuss extra about that and different privateness considerations later.
So, what precisely is Microsoft Copilot? It’s an AI assistant, a chatbot, an app — slightly little bit of all the things. The umbrella time period Copilot is usually a bit complicated, so let’s discover what it means in its functions and the way you need to use it.
Copilot is Microsoft’s branding for varied AI-powered instruments embedded throughout its ecosystem, together with in Windows, Edge, Bing, Microsoft 365 (all of the Office apps), Teams, GitHub and safety instruments. You can even obtain the Copilot app in your iOS and Android units.
The branding has additionally expanded to PCs as Microsoft rolled out an AI laptop computer, Copilot Plus PC. Windows 11 laptops and Copilot Plus PCs each include a devoted Copilot key that permits you to soar straight into your AI assistant with one click on on a keyboard.
Copilot is powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o and Dall-E 3 along with Microsoft’s personal proprietary Prometheus mannequin. It makes use of giant language fashions to put in writing textual content, create photos and songs, search the online, summarize emails, generate code, automate duties and help you throughout the apps you most likely already use.
Copilot vs. different AI chatbots
Because it is an AI chatbot, you’ll be able to evaluate Copilot to ChatGPT, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Anthropic’s Claude (although Claude is not linked to the web like the remaining). These are all standalone chatbots the place you enter prompts and get responses.
Copilot can even seem inside your apps and work straight together with your content material. For instance, as an alternative of asking ChatGPT to put in writing an e-mail after which copying it into Outlook, Copilot lives inside Outlook and generates the draft utilizing your e-mail historical past and context. It saves time and reduces the variety of steps to get issues completed.
As an AI assistant, it resembles how Google’s Gemini works throughout its software program merchandise, however Copilot is extra tightly embedded into productiveness instruments. Meta AI can also be built-in throughout its social platforms, however is best for informal and artistic use.
What can Microsoft Copilot do?
On Windows 11, Copilot is constructed straight into the taskbar as a sidebar assistant. You can use it for system settings, emptying the recycle bin, discovering recordsdata and extra. Edge additionally contains Copilot, providing contextual help like summarizing articles or evaluating merchandise when you browse. Imad Khan, a CNET senior author masking AI, appreciated Copilot in Bing a lot that it turned his default search engine after he reviewed it. And when you’re a developer, GitHub Copilot can counsel code snippets as you sort.
When you employ Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI attracts from the context of your recordsdata and information, like calendars or chats (together with your permission), to generate content material or present options. In Word, it may possibly draft, edit and summarize paperwork. In Excel, it may possibly construct formulation, analyze information and generate charts. It’ll whip up a deck for you in PowerPoint primarily based on a immediate or a Word doc. Outlook Copilot drafts emails and summarizes threads. In Teams, it may possibly generate assembly summaries and pull context from chats you were not taking note of (we have all been there).
Copilot additionally now has a brand new Windows app and Copilot Vision to your cellphone, which may analyze your images in actual time.
How a lot does Copilot value?
There are totally different variations and paywalls for Copilot, relying on the platform.
For particular person customers, a extra restricted however nonetheless very helpful model of Copilot is on the market at no cost in Windows 11, Edge, Bing and as a cell app. There’s additionally Copilot Pro for people, which prices $20 per 30 days and contains precedence efficiency throughout peak occasions, sooner picture creation and enhanced AI options in chosen apps in case you have a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 is aimed toward enterprise customers and prices $30 per person per 30 days. This model contains the AI instruments embedded in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. But it requires particular licenses to make use of. Microsoft 365 Copilot costs would possibly improve in some elements of the world.
There are additionally Microsoft 365 Business Plans plus Copilot plans, which differ in worth per person. GitHub Copilot has separate pricing for people and companies, too.
The costliest model is Copilot Studio, priced at $210 or a pay-as-you-go choice, which helps you to create your personal AI brokers.
Privacy considerations
AI instruments built-in into the software program we use each day can quietly blur the road between useful and intrusive. Since Copilot is constructed into all the things out of your desktop to your search engine, it is continually watching, analyzing and studying out of your exercise to be extra helpful. It makes you surprise if surveillance is usually masked with comfort.
Ashique KhudaBukhsh, professor of software program engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, who makes a speciality of AI and Natural Language Processing, and who additionally used to work as a software program developer for Microsoft, mentioned the tech big’s safety requirements are fairly excessive. But he additionally admits: “As the AI instruments more and more function throughout various platforms, there may be an elevated danger that the information might bleed from one system into one other.”
“The job of the person is to be sure that every time you’re, say, opening or downloading a brand new utility or one thing, there may be superb print the place you’ll be able to truly decide out,” KhudaBukhsh says.
He says susceptible teams, like senior residents, must be educated and educated so they’re on top of things with the dangers of AI and might defend themselves till there may be extra regulatory oversight of this.
But KhudaBukhsh additionally notes there are some frequent misconceptions about AI and privateness. “AI techniques are [not] intrinsically invasive,” he explains, since “many of those techniques are constructed with privateness by design ideas.”
While AI instruments want entry to information to perform, “techniques with status usually anonymize and course of that information in ways in which should not have enduring private information.” So even when you unintentionally share one thing delicate, he says there are checks and balances to verify personally identifiable info, like SSNs, is eliminated. He says that is true even when your data is being utilized in coaching information.
One stumble Microsoft had with AI and privateness was Copilot’s Recall characteristic. This AI reminiscence device was designed that can assist you discover stuff you’ve seen in your display screen. You describe what you bear in mind, and it pulls outcomes out of your timeline of screenshots (referred to as snapshots), which it periodically takes of your exercise. Everything occurs regionally in your Copilot Plus PC and nothing is uploaded to the cloud or despatched to Microsoft. You’d additionally have to decide in for this characteristic and sign up with biometrics by Windows Hello.
After heavy criticism over privateness considerations, Recall was pulled from common launch and is just now starting to progressively roll out in preview to Windows Insiders as of April 10. Microsoft additionally introduced enhanced information safety for Copilot on the finish of final 12 months.
Microsoft didn’t present touch upon AI and privateness.
New options and releases
Microsoft calls Copilot its “final AI companion” and continues increasing the place and the way it advances. The firm introduced a number of new options in February and March, like product worth monitoring for all US customers. Think Deeper’s reasoning mannequin has been upgraded to OpenAI’s o3-mini (excessive) and now affords limitless entry at no cost, together with the Voice characteristic.
I created this picture on my iPhone in WhatsApp after giving Copilot the prompts.
Interacting with Copilot throughout messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram has additionally been prolonged to GroupMe and Viber. To activate this characteristic, scan a QR code on apps’ assist pages or add the Copilot’s chat quantity (+1 877-224-1042) to your contacts.
Microsoft Copilot is without doubt one of the higher AI assistants at present out there, because of its deep integration throughout Microsoft’s ecosystem. It’s designed to assist together with your productiveness and alleviate the dread of mundane duties.
Like each AI device CNET has reviewed up to now, it isn’t excellent. But when you’re already utilizing Microsoft software program, Copilot may make your each day workflow simpler.
Just keep in mind that, like all different AI instruments, it may possibly hallucinate or supply outdated info. You additionally must be cautious of the private information you share while you use any AI system.
As KhudaBukhsh says, “It may very well be very handy to make use of expertise, however on the similar time, we must be very aware of what we’re sharing, and if we’re understanding the trade-off between comfort and safety.”
