Microsoft Copilot announced with AI-functions for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams

Microsoft has announced a new AI-powered tool called Microsoft 365 Copilot. It is currently being tested with select commercial customers and combines the power of large language models with business data and Microsoft 365 apps to increase creativity, productivity and skills. This new service will essentially integrate the functionality of a ChatGPT-like large language model with most-used Microsoft applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.

Customers will experience Microsoft 365 Copilot in two ways. Firstly, it will be embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps that people use every day such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. Secondly, there will be a new experience called Business Chat which works across the large language model and Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft claims the new integration will allow the apps to do things that were not possible before.

With natural language prompts like “tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” Business Chat can generate a status update based on meetings, emails and chat threads. The customer is always in control and can decide what to keep or discard.

Jared Spataro, corporate vice president at Microsoft said “Copilot combines the power of large language models with your data and apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.”

How will Copilot work?

Copilot in Word can write, edit and summarize alongside people as they work. In PowerPoint, it can turn ideas into a designed presentation through natural language commands. In Excel, it can help unlock insights and create professional-looking data visualizations in a fraction of the time.

There is also a new experience called Business Chat which brings together data from across documents, presentations, email etc. to help summarize chats or write emails.