Microsoft introduces Copilot, the AI feature that will transform Word, Excel and Outlook © Screenshot Les Numériques
On Thursday, March 16, Microsoft announced that it’s bringing the power of next-gen AI to its productivity tools. Called Microsoft 365 Copilot, the program is currently in the testing phase with some commercial customers. Copilot relies on large language models (LLM) combined with enterprise data and Microsoft 365 applications “to unleash creativity, unleash productivity and enhance skills”according to the company.
Concretely, Microsoft 365 Copilot consists of the integration of AI-based functionalities in the most famous applications of the software publisher, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams or Outlook.
The company provides an overview of the possibilities offered by Copilot:
- On Word, it will allow you to write, edit, or summarize text to give it the desired shape.
- On PowerPoint, it will create a presentation from existing documents.
- On Excel, it will be possible to identify trends or create data visualizations.
- On Outlook, it can help summarize and manage the inbox, but also summarize email exchanges and suggest responses.
- On Teams, he will be able to create real-time summaries of meetings.
- On Power Platform, it can help developers automate tasks.
Microsoft also presented Business Chat, a chatbot or conversational agent that is based on the functions of Copilot and applications from Microsoft. It is he who gathers data from documents, presentations, emails, calendars, notes and contacts to help summarize discussions, write emails, find key dates or even build projects. In sum, according to the example provided by the company, this chatbot will respond to queries such as “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy”and will generate a status update based on morning meetings, emails, and threads.
“Copilot combines the power of great language models with your data and applications to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.said Jared Spataro, a Microsoft executive. Based on your business content and context, Copilot delivers relevant and actionable results. He is […] based on Microsoft’s holistic approach to security, compliance, privacy, and responsible AI. Copilot marks a new era of computing that will fundamentally transform the way we work.”.