Copilot for Microsoft 365 Has Landed

• Copilot for Microsoft 365, which is generally available, is a natural language–based assistant that works across Office applications.
• It could boost knowledge worker productivity by generating content, performing tasks, and answering questions.
• It costs US$30 per user per month in addition to the price of a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI offering based on a large language model (LLM) and customer-specific data stored in Microsoft 365 services. It helps users accomplish tasks in Office applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook (including Web-based versions of those applications), using natural language conversations.

A New Approach to Knowledge Worker Assistance

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an Office assistance technology that could improve on earlier tools by enabling users to quickly generate content, find information, and execute tasks using a uniform natural language–based chat UI.

Office has offered many tools to help customers locate relevant information and discover, understand, and apply Office functionality. These tools have included help files, wizards, animated assistants, a “Tell Me” feature that found features based on text descriptions, and a Search box in the title bar of current versions, which can find features, documents, contacts, and help resources. Delve, Viva, and features of SharePoint Online help users discover and locate document and contact activity that can contribute to completing work goals. However, these historical assistance tools do not generate new content, and users must navigate disparate UIs to gather information and produce results. Copilot for Microsoft 365 uses generative AI and an LLM driven by a massive infrastructure hosted in Azure, and it has the potential to make it significantly more beneficial than previous tools.