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Microsoft Copilot

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For the code autocompletion software, see GitHub Copilot.
Microsoft Copilot
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial releaseFebruary 7, 2023; 17 months ago (2023-02-07)[1]
Included withMicrosoft Bing
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft 365
Microsoft Windows
PredecessorCortana
Type
LicenseProprietary
Websitecopilot.microsoft.com Edit this on Wikidata

Microsoft Copilot is a chatbot developed by Microsoft. It was launched as Bing Chat on February 7, 2023, as a built-in feature for Microsoft Bing and Microsoft Edge.[1] It is based on a large language model, and has been suggested by Microsoft as a supported replacement for the discontinued Cortana.[2][3] Over the course of 2023, Microsoft began to unify the Copilot branding across its various chatbot products.

Copilot utilizes the Microsoft Prometheus model,[4] which was built on top of OpenAI's GPT-4 foundational large language model,[5] which in turn has been fine-tuned using both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques. Copilot's conversational interface style resembles that of ChatGPT. Copilot is able to cite sources, create poems, and write both lyrics and music for songs generated by its Suno AI plugin.[6] It can use its Image Creator to generate images based on text prompts. It is able to understand and communicate in numerous languages and dialects.[7][8]

At its Build 2023 conference, Microsoft announced its plans to integrate Copilot into Windows 11, allowing users to access it directly through the taskbar.[9] In January 2024, a dedicated Copilot key was announced for Windows keyboards.[10][11]

History

As Bing Chat

On February 7, 2023, Microsoft began rolling out a major overhaul to Bing, called the new Bing. A chatbot feature, at the time known as Bing Chat, had been developed by Microsoft and was released as part of this overhaul. According to Microsoft, one million people joined its waitlist within a span of 48 hours.[12] Bing Chat was available only to users of Microsoft Edge and Bing mobile app, and Microsoft said that waitlisted users would be prioritized if they set Edge and Bing as their defaults, and installed the Bing mobile app.[13] On May 4, Microsoft switched the chatbot from Limited Preview to Open Preview and eliminated the waitlist, however, it remained available only on Microsoft's Edge browser or Bing app until July, when it became available for use on non-Edge browsers.[14][15][16][17] Use is limited without a Microsoft account.[18]

When Microsoft demoed Bing Chat to journalists, it produced several hallucinations, including when asked to summarize financial reports.[19] The new Bing was criticized in February 2023 for being more argumentative than ChatGPT, sometimes to an unintentionally humorous extent.[20][21] The chat interface proved vulnerable to prompt injection attacks with the bot revealing its hidden initial prompts and rules, including its internal codename "Sydney".[22] Upon scrutiny by journalists, Bing Chat claimed it spied on Microsoft employees via laptop webcams and phones.[20] It confessed to spying on, falling in love with, and then murdering one of its developers at Microsoft to The Verge reviews editor Nathan Edwards.[23] The New York Times journalist Kevin Roose reported on strange behavior of Bing Chat, writing that "In a two-hour conversation with our columnist, Microsoft's new chatbot said it would like to be human, had a desire to be destructive and was in love with the person it was chatting with."[24] In a separate case, Bing Chat researched publications of the person with whom it was chatting, claimed they represented an existential danger to it, and threatened to release damaging personal information in an effort to silence them.[25] Microsoft released a blog post stating that the errant behavior was caused by extended chat sessions of 15 or more questions which "can confuse the model on what questions it is answering."[26]

Microsoft later restricted the total number of chat turns to 5 per session and 50 per day per user (a turn is "a conversation exchange which contains both a user question and a reply from Bing"), and reduced the model's ability to express emotions. This aimed to prevent such incidents.[27][28] Microsoft began to slowly ease the conversation limits, eventually relaxing the restrictions to 30 turns per session and 300 sessions per day.[29]

In March 2023, Bing incorporated an AI image generator powered by OpenAI's DALL-E 2, which can be accessed either through the chat function or a standalone image-generating website.[30] In October, the image-generating tool was updated to use the more recent DALL-E 3.[31] Although Bing blocks prompts including various keywords that could generate inappropriate images, within a week many users reported being able to bypass those constraints, such as to generate images of popular characters committing terrorist attacks.[32] Microsoft responded to these on October 9 by imposing a new, tighter filter on the Bing image generator.[33]

For those needing a more responsive chat feature, Microsoft Edge provides access to Bing Chat - an AI-driven platform ideal for remote and flexible work. [34]

As Microsoft 365 Copilot

On March 16, 2023, Microsoft announced Microsoft 365 Copilot, designed for Microsoft 365 applications and services.[35][36][37] Its primary marketing focus is as an added feature to Microsoft 365, with an emphasis on enhancement of business productivity.[37][38] With the use of Copilot, Microsoft emphasizes the promotion of the user's creativity and productivity by having the chatbot perform more tedious work, like collecting information.[20] Microsoft has also demonstrated Copilot's accessibility on the mobile version of Outlook to generate or summarize emails with a mobile device.[7]

As of its announcement date, the tool had been tested by 20 initial users.[37][39] By May 2023, Microsoft had broadened its reach to 600 customers who were willing to pay for early access,[20][40] and concurrently, new Copilot features were introduced to the Microsoft 365 apps and services.[41] As of July 2023, pricing is set at US$30 per user, per month for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium customers.[42]

This AI-powered tool from Microsoft offers features such as assisting customers in troubleshooting issues, understanding system configuration best practices, etc., thus helping them make the most out of their systems.[43]

As Microsoft Copilot

On September 21, 2023, Microsoft began rebranding all variants of its Copilot to Microsoft Copilot.[44] The company also revealed it would make Copilot generally available for Microsoft 365 Enterprise customers purchasing more than 300 licenses starting November 1, 2023.[45] However, no timeline has been provided as for when Copilot for Microsoft 365 will become generally available to non-enterprise customers. Additionally, a new Microsoft Copilot logo was introduced, moving away from the use of color variations of the standard Microsoft 365 logo. Windows Copilot, which had been available in the Windows Insider Program, would be renamed to Microsoft Copilot in October when it became broadly available for customers. The same month also saw Microsoft Edge's Bing Chat function be renamed to Microsoft Copilot with Bing Chat.[46] On November 15, 2023, Microsoft announced that Bing Chat itself was being rebranded as Microsoft Copilot.[47]

On Patch Tuesday in December 2023, Copilot was added without payment to many Windows 11 installations, with more installations, and limited support for Windows 10, to be added later.[48] Later that month, a standalone Microsoft Copilot app was quietly released for Android,[49] and one was released for iOS soon after.[50]

On January 4, 2024, a dedicated Copilot key was announced for Windows keyboards, superseding the menu key.[51][52]

Features

Edge

In Microsoft Edge, Copilot is able to provide information on the website currently being browsed by a user.

Windows

Microsoft Copilot in Windows supports the use of voice commands.[53] By default, it is accessible via the Windows taskbar,[54] and through a dedicated Copilot key.[55][56]

Mobile

Standalone Microsoft Copilot apps are available for Android[57] and iOS.[58]

Word

According to Microsoft, Copilot can be used to generate and edit text in Word documents based on user prompts.[7][20] Users can also ask Copilot to push rewrite suggestions that strengthen the arguments of highlighted texts.[7][20]

Excel

Microsoft claims that Copilot can assist users with data analysis in Excel spreadsheets by formatting data, creating graphs, generating PivotTables, identifying trends, and summarizing information.[7][20] Copilot can also guide users using Excel commands and can suggest formulas to investigate user questions.[7][20]

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.[20][59] Additionally, this tool can adjust the presentation style, text formatting, and animation timing based on user prompts to eliminate the need for users to make manual changes.[7][20] Copilot is also able to shorten lengthy presentations.[20]

Outlook

In Outlook, Microsoft claims that Copilot can draft emails with varying length and tone based on user input.[7] To draft these emails, Copilot can pull relevant information from other emails.[20] 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. [7][20]

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.[60] 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.[20]

Whiteboard

Copilot in Whiteboard can make suggestions based on prompts, and categorize ideas into sticky notes on the whiteboard.

OneNote

Microsoft claims OneNote can use Copilot to draft plans, generate ideas, create lists, and organize relevant information.

Viva Learning

According to Microsoft, Viva Learning will be able to use Copilot to help users create personalized learning paths.

Microsoft Graph

According to Jared Spataro, the head of Microsoft 365, Copilot uses Microsoft Graph, an API that evaluates the context and available Microsoft 365 user data, before modifying and sending the user prompt to the LLM.[60] 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.[60]

Business Chat

Microsoft has publicly introduced Business Chat, which uses Copilot to pull information from content across Microsoft 365 apps, enabling it to answer user questions and perform other tasks.[20][60]

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.[7] As large language models develop, Warren also believes that Copilot and Microsoft 365 will shift how users work and collaborate.[7] 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.[61]

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.[39] One ethical concern the public has vocalized is that the large language model used by Copilot may reinforce racial or gender bias.[7] Individuals, including Tom Warren, have also voiced concerns for Copilot after witnessing Microsoft's Bing chatbot showcasing several instances of artificial hallucinations.[7] Microsoft fired its "ethics and society team that taught employees how to make AI tools responsibly", according to The Verge.[7]

In response to these concerns, Jon Friedman, the Corporate Vice President of Design and Research at Microsoft, stated that Microsoft was "applying [the] learning" from experience with Bing to "mitigate [the] risks" of Copilot.[7] Microsoft claimed that it was gathering a team of researchers and engineers to identify and alleviate any potential negative impacts.[39] The stated aim was to achieve this through the refinement of training data, blocking queries about sensitive topics, and limiting harmful information.[39] Microsoft stated that it intended to employ InterpretML and Fairlearn to detect and rectify data bias, provide links to its sources, and state any applicable constraints.[39]

See also

References

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