Welcome, Microsoft 365 Copilot

On March 16, 2023, Microsoft announced Microsoft 365 Copilot at a LinkedIn Live event. Microsoft describes the service as an "AI-powered tool that boosts productivity and creativity in the Microsoft 365 world". The service integrates with popular Microsoft apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, but also with Power Apps, Power Automate and the Microsoft Graph API. The new business chat feature streamlines work across data and apps in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft 365 Copilot aims to support users in their work. Copilot uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze a user's work patterns and make suggestions on how they can become more productive. The service is designed to work in the background, allowing users to focus on their work while Copilot handles the more mundane tasks by taking care of the repetitive and time-consuming ones. The service will be available to Microsoft 365 users and will be included with their subscription in the future.

To get an impression of the functionality, see some screenshots from the live event below.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a comprehensive approach because it is designed to provide personalized and proactive assistance to users in their work within the Microsoft 365 environment.

Copilot will be integrated in all Microsoft Office products.

Copilot will make suggestions that can be redefined and modified.

The service will generate documents that can be seamlessly exchanged between Office products.

It can even produce speaker´s notes in Power Point.

Copilot is powered by large language models (LLMs) and Microsoft Graph.

It even will be available in Power Automate Flows.

And, of course, Copilot can pull together data from various sources in Microsoft Teams with the help of Microsoft Graph. The user decides what to keep, modify or discard.

Copilot will also be able to do things like "Add this slide to an existing Power Point presentation", and similar operations. 

Copilot also integrates with your email, providing support for managing and responding to emails professionally.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat works across the large language models, and the Microsoft 365 apps. It will have access to a user's calendar, email, and other work-related data to understand their work patterns and the service will also take into account the user's work habits, such as when they typically take breaks or when they are most productive. With this information, Copilot Business Chat can provide suggestions on how to optimize a user's workday, such as rescheduling meetings or prioritizing tasks.

Microsoft 365 Copilot will do much of the basic work for users, making it easier to do things like gather information, formulate and shape data, and format the data well. Features include operations such as scheduling meetings, where Copilot can suggest meeting times based on attendee availability and create a calendar invite. It will be able to manage emails to prioritize emails and provide quick replies based on the context of the email, and it can create documents to help users create professional-looking documents with customizable templates and to create ready-made layouts and much more. As a result, users will save a lot of time in the future and can concentrate on the essentials.

By the way, Microsoft spells it "Copilot", no dash, no capital P. The service is still in development, and Microsoft plans to roll it out gradually to its users. Microsoft believes that Copilot will help users save time and be more productive, allowing them to focus on the work that matters most. Microsoft 365 Copilot will do a lot of the basic work for users.

You can find the official announcement in the Microsoft blog at Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot – your copilot for work.

This is going to be exciting!