Updated: April 8, 2024 (November 15, 2023)
BlogMicrosoft, 'the Copilot company,' unveils yet more AI assistants

Microsoft has spent much of calendar 2023 announcing new Copilot AI assistants across its product line. At its Ignite 2023 conference, Microsoft continued this trend by announcing plans for several more Copilots, some of which are now in preview, and others still just promises.
Microsoft also used Day 1 of its annual conference for IT pros and business decision makers to try to solidify its Copilot branding. As the company indicated in September, officials are trying to promote the idea of a single “Microsoft Copilot” experience that works across its software and services. However, the reality of what Microsoft’s Copilots are and how they work is more complex.
At Ignite, Microsoft officials stated again that “Microsoft Copilot” is the brand it will use across the various AI assistants on the consumer side of the house. Bing Chat’s new official name is “Copilot.” Bing Chat Enterprise’s new official name also is “Copilot.” (Yeah, this makes no sense to us, either, as the two are different things.) Bing Chat Enterprise is not free and includes data protection that Bing Chat does not. Bing Chat Enterprise is available to those with a Microsoft 365 F3, E3, E5, A3/A5 (faculty only), Business Standard and Business Premium users for no additional cost and is US$5 per user per month for those without those licenses.
Microsoft officials also want to change the way people refer to its commercial Copilots such as Microsoft 365 Copilot and Dynamics 365 Copilot, too. The new branding: “Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365” and “Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365.”
Trying to simplify the complex can be good, but here’s the problem: There are multiple different Microsoft Copilots. And GitHub Copilot and the Copilots used in Windows or Microsoft 365 apps have very little in common.
“Each Copilot is trained on different data to perform different functions and has different security permissions. And the big one: Each has different licensing requirements,” said Directions on Microsoft analyst Andrew Snodgrass.
Bring on more Microsoft Copilots
Here’s a list of the new Copilots and Copilot-related services Microsoft is announcing at Ignite. (I’ve included any availability, pricing and licensing information I could find.):
Copilot for Fabric: Announced in May, includes several AI assistants, each using the Fabric analytics platform but designed for a different Fabric “experience” is now in preview.
Copilot for Azure: Now in preview, this AI assistant is meant to help Azure customers with designing, operating, optimizing and troubleshooting Azure apps and infrastructure.
Copilot for Cosmos DB: Focused on helping developers write NoSQL queries, this is embedded in the Cosmos DB Data Explorer. It’s free for developers.
Copilot for Service: Public preview coming in December 2023 and general availability in Q1 of calendar 2024. This new Copilot connect Office applications with third-party CRM and contact-center solutions. Pricing will be US$50 per user per month (including a built-in Copilot for Microsoft 365 license).
Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides: This Copilot connects users wearing a HoloLens 2 AR headset with Dynamics 365 data to help field workers complete tasks.
Microsoft Copilot Studio: This low-code tool is meant to help customers build their own copilots and plug-ins to Microsoft’s Copilots by integrating business data in copilots for internal or external use. It works with connectors, plug-ins and OpenAI’s newly announced GPTs. It also includes Power Virtual Agents for developers connecting to Dataverse-based applications. Copilot Studio is included in Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 licenses.
Microsoft Copilot Dashboard: Now in public preview, this dashboard is meant to help IT pros with Copilot in Microsoft 365 usage across apps, impact on productivity and the like. In early 2024, customers with Viva Insights licenses will get more advanced dashboard capabilities.
Copilot for Viva: Microsoft announced plans to provide copilots across its Viva employee experience suite back in April. These are finally starting to arrive for testing:
- Copilot in Viva Insights (preview early 2024)
- Copilot in Viva Goals (preview in Dec. 2023)
- Copilot in Viva Engage (preview in Jan. 2024)
- Copilot in Viva Learning (private preview for joint Viva and SAP SuccessFactors customers by end of 2023)
- Copilot in Viva Glint (private preview Jan 2024)
Microsoft is using Ignite to continue to try to whet customers’ appetites for its various Copilots by talking up a bunch of features that are coming soon. For example, in early 2024, Copilot in Teams will add the ability to give “Copilot a seat at the meeting table” in Teams meetings by taking notes or capturing specific content. And in December this year, intelligent recap will be added to Copilot in Teams, as well.
Just a reminder: Copilot for Microsoft 365 may be designated by Microsoft as “generally available,” but it’s actually only purchasable right now by a fairly small set of users. To get it, customers must have a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license, buy it through their Microsoft account rep (since it’s still not on the price list), purchase a minimum of 300 seats, and pay $30 per user per month for it on top of their M365 license fees.
Related Resources
Introducing Microsoft Copilot Studio
Ten Things You Need to Know Before Buying Microsoft 365 Copilot
September 2023: Microsoft takes a first stab at ‘Microsoft Copilot’ rebrand
Copilot Brand Expands, Not a Cohesive Toolset (Directions members only)