Summary
- Microsoft Copilot is a standalone AI chatbot integrated with Bing Search, offering conversational responses, image generation, logical reasoning, and data organization.
- Copilot Pro, a paid tier, provides more features such as deeper integration with Microsoft 365 apps and greater freedom for subscribers when using the AI to generate images.
- Subscribers can access the GPT-4 Turbo model for faster responses and customize their Copilot GPT model, all for $20 per month per user.
In 2023, every major tech company launched a standalone consumer-facing AI chatbot — OpenAI was first to the party with ChatGPT, Google created Bard, and Microsoft called its creation Copilot. Copilot is closely integrated with the company’s Bing search engine and its functionality closely resembles the best in the business — answers in a conversational tone, image generation, logical reasoning, data organization, etc. Microsoft has now announced a paid tier called Copilot Pro with more features and a subscription fee.
Microsoft Copilot is available as a limited preview on Windows 11, where it shows up as a sidebar using the Win+C keyboard shortcut. You can use the sidebar to pick a style of response from the AI, select images you want to use for a search, or just type out a 4,000-character query. Microsoft is convinced Copilot is the future, and added a dedicated hotkey on Windows 11 laptop keyboards showcased at CES 2024. Late last year, the company also launched an Android app for Copilot, making it more accessible to people who may not have a Windows PC.
Microsoft’s latest announcement promises deeper Copilot integration with Microsoft 365 apps and speedier access for power users, but it is limited to Pro subscribers. A new subscription costs $20 per month per user, and it brings Copilot capabilities to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote on PC, Mac, and iPadOS if you have a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription. Image creation with AI is also better for subscribers because they can enjoy support for landscape imagery, better image quality, and 100 boosts per day for the Bing Image Creator, now known as Image Creator by Designer.
Since Microsoft has been working closely with OpenAI, Copilot Pro also gives users access to the GPT-4 Turbo model for faster responses when the AI is burdened with queries from free-tier users. Soon, subscribers will also see a toggle switch to choose which GPT model is used to handle their queries, and build a customizable Copilot GPT with a few prompts. Microsoft says this customized model can be tailored to a specific topic.
The company’s efforts to monetize Copilot aren’t particularly surprising because even ChatGPT offers the GPT-4 model only if you pay up and even Google is using a similar approach, offering some AI features, like Help me Organize in Sheets, only to its paying Workspace customers. Moreover, AI models require significant computational muscle to train and run at scale, and it’s only fair that companies apportion the cost among users.
