Microsoft Copilot: What is it?

Copilot is an advanced AI assistant in the form of generative AI that integrates seamlessly into each Microsoft 365 application, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook, and more. Microsoft’s vision is to eliminate the monotony of routine tasks, enabling individuals and organizations to focus more on creative and problem-solving endeavors.

Microsoft Copilot distinguishes itself from ChatGPT and similar AI tools by having access to your entire history in Microsoft 365. It has the capability to quickly sift through and aggregate data from your documents, presentations, emails, calendars, notes, and contacts.

This presents a significant challenge for the (data) security of organizations. Copilot can tap into all the sensitive information accessible to a user, which is often excessively broad. On average, the largest part of M365 data is accessible to all its employees. Without the proper restrictions, configurations and controls in place this can quickly become a challenging situation.

Moreover, Copilot has the potential to rapidly create and expose new sensitive data that needs safeguarding. Before the rise of AI (that sounds dooming, doesn’t it?), human capacity for generating and sharing data already exceeded our ability to secure it, as shown daily by trends in data breaches. Generative AI puts more pressure on this issue.

Using Microsoft 365 Copilot

The potential applications of generative AI within a collaborative platform like Microsoft 365 are boundless. The eagerness of IT and security teams to obtain early access and develop deployment strategies is understandable, given the anticipated substantial increase in productivity.

For instance, you could initiate a blank Word document and instruct Copilot to compose a client proposal using a specified data set, which might include OneNote pages, PowerPoint presentations, and other office documents. Within seconds, you can have a comprehensive proposal ready. Catch-up to your e-mail in seconds, get updates of what has been discussed in Teams meetings while you were away and analyze lengthy Excel sheets all before you’ve had your morning coffee. It’s truly one of the biggest impacts in technology in our lifetime.

What is Microsoft Graph and LLM?

Microsoft Copilot merges the capabilities of advanced language models with in-house enterprise data generated by Microsoft Graph and from Microsoft 365 applications. Microsoft Copilot utilizes AI and natural language processing to help users obtain more accurate answers and generate content based on these responses. Developed on the ChatGPT framework.

This is all made possible through the integration of large language models (or LLM) with your (sensitive) data in the Microsoft Graph.

Large Language Models

These LLM models undergo extensive training on massive amount of public data including books, articles, and websites. This process enables them to acquire a deep understanding of language, context, and meanings.

To interact with large language models, you simply use natural language instructions and what’s referred to as natural language prompts.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 does not use the public OpenAI service but rather uses its own private instances and therefor keeps your data within it’s own data centers and even within US or EU boundaries to oblige regulations such as the GDPR in Europe.

The below clip shows the security & privacy steps Microsoft has taken to make sure Copilot is as safe as it gets. However, this only works if your Microsoft 365 tenant has been configured in the right way. E.g. the correct SharePoint / Teams access and recurring checks to maintain the right access elevation, a proper DLP and Information Protection policy and configuration, audit management including new copilot features, eDiscovery policies, and more.

Multiple Microsoft Copilot Versions

Microsoft Copilot, essentially Bing Chat rebranded, has technically been operational since February when Bing Chat was launched. However, it only became publicly accessible under its new identity following the Microsoft Ignite event in November.

Yet, there are other Copilots that matter greatly, and they all have different functions and release dates. A summarized overview:

• Copilot in Windows: This AI-powered feature began its rollout on Windows 11 through a Windows 11 update on September 26. It acts as a digital assistant that can answer questions, summarize content, customize settings, troubleshoot issues, and take action across your preferred apps. Notable features include generating images, translating, summarizing, and operating in various modes like Creative, Balanced, and Precise. Users find it particularly useful for tasks like “Do Not Disturb” mode activation, Bluetooth control, website summarization, and creative tasks like storytelling and image creation​​​​​​.
• Copilot Pro: On the 15th of January 2024 Microsoft announced the Copilot Pro version which enables users to use OpenAI’s GPT4-Turbo model.
• Copilot for Microsoft 365: This version began rolling out for enterprise customers on November 1 and will be available to non-enterprise users at a later date. As an AI-powered productivity tool, it coordinates large language models with content in Microsoft Graph and integrates with daily-use Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. It’s designed to unleash creativity, unlock productivity, and uplevel skills while adhering to enterprise-grade security, privacy, identity, and compliance policies​​​​​​​​​​.
• Copilot for Sales: Scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 2024, this tool is designed as an AI assistant for sellers to increase productivity and personalize customer interactions. It integrates with CRM systems like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales and can be accessed in tools including Microsoft Outlook and Teams. It’s particularly beneficial for automatically capturing, accessing, and registering data into CRM systems and generating text for emails and automating CRM tasks​​​​​​​​​​.
• Copilot for Service: Set for general availability in early 2024, this tool revolutionizes the agent experience in Dynamics 365 Customer Service by providing real-time assistance, automation, and collaboration. It’s designed to boost agent productivity and improve customer satisfaction without the need for any software or conversational AI development. It integrates with contact center content sources and features updates to drive efficiency across the organization, particularly in marketing, sales, and field service​​​​​​​​.
• Copilot in Viva: This feature uses large language models to summarize and suggest actions based on your data in the Viva apps and the Microsoft Graph. It helps track and update progress on OKRs, query apps in natural language, and provides insights from across the apps, aiming to help leaders understand and engage their workforce better​​​​​​​​.
• Github Copilot: This was the first tool to release in 2021. It’s an AI pair programmer that helps write code faster and with less effort by drawing context from comments and code to suggest individual lines and whole functions instantly. Notable features include code completion, function writing, unit test creation, adding comments to programming code, and chat and terminal interfaces, powered by a generative AI model developed by GitHub, OpenAI, and Microsoft​​​​​​​​.
• Copilot for Security: Currently available in private preview as an AI-powered feature of Microsoft 365 Defender that enhances incident response, threat hunting, and risk assessment by integrating specialized language models with security-specific capabilities, streamlining tasks for security professionals. Mostly used by Microsoft Security Partners or organizations who handle their own Security Operation Center.

Most organizations will start using Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365 first

Copilot for Microsoft 365 (previously known as Microsoft 365 Copilot (hey, it wouldn’t be Microsoft if they hadn’t already changed the name!)), which is subscription-based, and the broader Microsoft Copilot variant. Despite sharing an almost similar name, it’s important to recognize that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a big difference from the Copilot versions designed for consumers and small businesses found in Bing Chat or the non-enterprise Microsoft 365 editions. These versions are trained on a broader spectrum of data from across the web and thus yield more general results. In contrast, Copilot for Microsoft 365 leverages data exclusively from a particular organization.

Both versions of Copilot are integrated into various Microsoft 365 applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. This integration is meant to enhance creativity, boost productivity, and elevate skill levels within an organization. Additionally, Microsoft 365 Copilot introduces an AI-powered feature, Microsoft 365 Chat (previously known as Business Chat), to its suite of productivity tools. This feature aims to facilitate smoother communication by leveraging enterprise-specific data such as calendars, emails, chats, documents, meetings, and contacts.

As of December 5, Copilot operates using OpenAI’s sophisticated GPT-4 language model and the DALL-E 3 image generation model from the same company.

Finding and generating data at light-speed.

Copilot for Microsoft has the capability that goes far beyond simple questions and answers to take away some of the complexity in desk jobs, eliminate repetitive tasks by automating them and reclaim valuable time at work. Using Copilot and Microsoft 365 Chat to comb through your entire universe of data at work—all your emails, meetings, chats, documents, and more, plus the web—to tackle your to-do list in a fraction of the time. It can find ánd generate whatever you need in and from your files—even the files you forgot existed. And it can connect the dots across all your content and context at incredible speed. Make sure you understand how to secure your Microsoft 365 & Azure Tenant(s) when you start with any of the Copilot versions.

The only way is forward for Microsoft. All new Windows 11 devices and Surfaces will get a physical Copilot button on the keyboard. This makes it even easier and quicker to access Copilot in your organization.