Microsoft announces very heavy for Word, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook and Excel by presenting Copilot. An AI that will make you work by taking care of several tasks for you. The goal is to make you more effective on the most important topics.
The race for artificial intelligence is more intense than ever. Microsoft intends to run ahead by unveiling a whole host of new practical features in everyday life. While the new Bing already works with GPT-4, here are the Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Teams apps showing how AI can, in a way, work for you. so here’s Microsoft 365 Copilot unveiled during the highly anticipated conference of the American giant.
” Microsoft 365 Copilot is integrated with the apps you already use every day, allowing you to focus on the things that matter most and reduce tedious tasks. Working alongside you, Microsoft 365 Copilot helps you unleash your creativity, unlock your productivity, and improve your skills. “Beautiful promises in perspective.
AI becomes your co-pilot to work
In its presentation, the Redmond firm details the new uses unlocked tool by tool: Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. All of this is reminiscent of Google’s announcements for Docs and Gmail.
Microsoft Word
In Microsoft Word, all you have to do is make a short request to the AI Copilot so that the latter can immediately create a first draft of your project while “incorporating information from across your organization as needed“. You can rely on this intelligent tool to automatically add content to existing documents, summarize long texts or better rewrite certain passages to make it more concise.
You can even ask Copilot to suggest certain turns of phrase depending on the tone you want to convey (professional, relaxed, grateful, etc.). The AI can even give you some advice to strengthen one of your arguments in such a passage or eliminate inconsistencies in such a paragraph. Microsoft even invites you to test a few commands.
- “Write a two-page project proposal based on data from [un document] And[une feuille de calcul] “.
- “Make the third paragraph more concise. Changes the tone of the document to be more casual“.
Microsoft Excel
In Excel, Copilot wants to be a valuable ally in analyzing data from your spreadsheets. The promise is enticing. In a natural language, as if you were talking to a human being, you can ask him various questions. The AI will then be able to highlight correlations that seem relevant to it, run simulations and propose new formulas based on your queries.
You can still rely on Copilot to create infographics from the spreadsheets. Again, Microsoft suggests a few phrases to test. “Projects the impact of [changement de variable] and creates a graph for easy visualization“, or : “models the impact of a change in the growth rate of [variable] on my gross margin“.
Power point
Copilot also wants to put an end to boring PowerPoints. Microsoft does not skimp on words and even speaks of “turn your ideas into stunning presentations“. The firm thus describes a scenario in which the AI relies on existing written documents to create “full presentations with annotations and sources“. A simple description or rough outline can also serve as a starting point for the AI to create a new presentation.
The new PowerPoint will also allow you to condense overly long presentations with a single button. Then, thanks to commands written with natural language, you can also ask Copilot to adjust the layout of your slides, correctly synchronize the animations or format the integrated text as required.
Microsoft thus prompts you to make queries such as “Create a five-slide presentation from a Word document and include relevant stock photos“. “Consolidate this presentation into a three-slide summary“, we also read in the examples on display.
Outlook
Even your Outlook emails will benefit from Copilot. The goal is to make you waste less time sorting through emails so you can better focus on the important things. The AI is also supposed to be able to summarize long messy threads of discussion by explaining not only the situation, but also the points of view of each interlocutor and the questions left unanswered.
A simple request should now allow you to respond with the right forms to an email received while your quick notes can be transformed into a professional message.
Again, you can adjust the tone and length of your email just by asking Copilot. Some examples given by Microsoft:
- “Summarizes the emails I missed while I was away last week. Point out important points.»
- “Write a reply thanking them and asking them for more details on their second and third points; shorten this draft and adopt a professional tone“.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is no exception. Copilot has several tricks up its sleeve to make your videoconferences more efficient. By intervening directly in the chat, the AI ”lets you get answers to specific questions or catch up on what you missed, all without interrupting the flow of the chat“.
You can also let Copilot in Teams take care of planning the next meetings or identifying the right people for project follow-ups. Of course, Microsoft also provides sample commands. “Summarize what I missed in the meeting. What points have been raised so far? How do we disagree on this subject?» «Create a table of advantages and disadvantages of [sujet abordé]. What other things should you consider before making a decision?»
Business Chat
Microsoft is also introducing Business Chat. Like a ChatGPT, it is a kind of messaging platform through which you can chat with the AI Copilot. The platform workswith all your data and apps, allowing you to do things you never could before“. It’s a place where you can gather a lot of different information from your documents, presentations, emails, calendars, notes and contacts.
Microsoft 365 Copilot in testing phase
Microsoft 365 Copilot is currently being tested with 20 companies (eight of which are in the Fortune 500). This experimental phase will be extended to more customers in the coming months.
“Today, the best way to prepare for Copilot is to use Microsoft 365, the essential foundation for modern work. Microsoft 365 brings together the core capabilities needed, including identity, applications, management and security, and your enterprise data, in one solution, so you can be ready for AI“says the company. Finally, no information on the price has been revealed. We’ll know more.”In the coming months“.
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