Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an artificial intelligence assistant feature introduced by Microsoft on March 16, 2023. This tool, designed for Microsoft 365 applications and services, Edge, and Windows, leverages the advanced capabilities of OpenAI's GPT-4 large language models (LLMs). It also incorporates Microsoft Graph to transform user text input into content across various Microsoft 365 applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
The primary marketing focus for Copilot is enhancing productivity. As of its announcement date, the tool had been tested by 20 initial users. By May 2023, Microsoft had broadened its reach to 600 customers who were willing to pay for early access, and concurrently, new Copilot features were introduced to the office apps and services.
Despite its potential benefits, public concerns have been raised about the chatbot's potential for hallucinations and racial or gender bias. However, experts maintain that Copilot could revolutionize the way Microsoft users work and collaborate.
In a significant development announced at the Build 2023 conference, Microsoft revealed plans to integrate the AI assistant Copilot into Windows 11. This integration allows users to access the Windows Copilot service directly through the taskbar, further expanding the tool's accessibility and potential impact on user productivity.
Microsoft Graph
According to Jared Spataro, the head of Microsoft 365, Copilot utilizes Microsoft Graph, an API that evaluates the context and available Microsoft 365 user data before modifying and sending the user prompt to the LLM. After receiving the response from the LLM, Microsoft Graph performs additional context-specific processing before sending it to Microsoft 365 apps to generate actual content.
Features
Word
According to Microsoft, Copilot can be used to generate and edit text in Word documents based on user prompts. Users can also ask Copilot to push rewrite suggestions that strengthen the arguments of highlighted texts.
Excel
The company also claims that Copilot can assist users with data analysis in Excel spreadsheets by formatting data, creating graphs, generating PivotTables, identifying trends, and summarizing information. Copilot can also guide users using Excel commands and can suggest formulas to investigate user questions.
PowerPoint
Copilot, according to Microsoft, is able to create PowerPoint presentations that summarize information from user-selected Word documents and Excel spreadsheets or a user prompt. Additionally, this tool can adjust the presentation style, text formatting, and animation timing based on user prompts to eliminate the need for the user to make manual changes. Copilot is also able to shorten lengthy presentations.
Outlook
In Outlook, Microsoft claims that Copilot can draft emails with varying length and tone based on user input. To draft these emails, Copilot can pull relevant information from other emails. Copilot is also able to summarize content from email threads, noting the viewpoints of individuals involved in the email threads and pointing out questions posed by others that have yet to be answered.
Teams
Microsoft also states that Copilot can be used in Teams to present information for upcoming meetings, transcribe meetings, and provide debriefs if users join the meeting late. After the meeting, Copilot can also summarize discussion points, list key actions deliberated in the meeting, and answer questions that were covered in the meeting.
Business Chat
In addition to reporting the implementation of Copilot into Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft has also publicly introduced Business Chat: a chat interface that pulls information from content across all Microsoft 365 apps, including documents, presentations, emails, calendars, and notes, to answer user questions and perform other tasks. For example, Copilot can summarize content, extract information, and organize action plans based on the information pooled
OneNote
OneNote will also use prompts to draft plans, generate ideas, create lists and organize information to help customers find what they need easily.
Viva Learning
Viva Learning will use a natural language chat interface to help users create a personalized learning journey including designing upskilling paths, discovering relevant learning resources ,and scheduling time for assigned trainings.
Marketing
Copilot is being marketed as an added feature to Microsoft 365, with an emphasis on business productivity. With the use of Copilot, Microsoft emphasizes the promotion of the user’s creativity and productivity by having the chatbot do more tedious work, like collecting information. Microsoft has also demonstrated Copilot’s accessibility on the mobile version of Outlook to generate or summarize emails with a mobile device.
As of May 2023, Microsoft is testing the chatbot with 600 paying customers. As of July 2023, pricing is set at $30USD per user, per month for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium customers.
Reception
Tom Warren, a senior editor at The Verge, has noted the conceptual similarity of Copilot and other Microsoft assistant features like Cortana and Clippy. As large language models develop, Warren also believes that Copilot and Microsoft 365 will shift how users work and collaborate. Rowan Curran, an analyst at Forrester, notes that the integration of an AI like Copilot can smooth out the user experience, as they will not have to use an external tool to perform tasks like summarizing a paper.
Concerns over the speed of Microsoft's recent release of AI-powered products and investments have led to questions surrounding ethical responsibilities in the testing of such products. One ethical concern the public has vocalized is that the large language model used by Copilot may reinforce racial or gender bias. Individuals, including Tom Warren, have also voiced concerns for Copilot after witnessing Microsoft’s Bing chatbot showcasing several instances of artificial hallucinations.
In response to these concerns, Jon Friedman, the Corporate Vice President of Design and Research at Microsoft, has emphasized Microsoft’s dedication to learning from their experiences with Bing and responsibly develop Copilot. Microsoft has claimed that they are gathering a team of researchers and engineers to identify and alleviate any potential negative impacts. This will be achieved through the refinement of training data, blocking queries about sensitive topics, and limiting harmful information. The company also stated that it intends to employ InterpretMl aLd Failure to detect and rectify data bias, provide links to its sources, and state any applicable constraints.
References
External links
March 16 announcement on Microsoft's blog
The Microsoft 365 Copilot AI Event in Less than 3 Minutes
AI ‘Personal Assistant’ for Windows 11
Artificial intelligence
Virtual assistants
Microsoft
Applications of artificial intelligence
365 Copilot
OpenAI
Computer-related introductions in 2023