Raphael Thys
Microsoft has taken another step toward integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technology into its products. On Sept. 21, the company announced Microsoft Copilot, which merges interfaces on Windows with language models.
According to Microsoft’s announcement, the solution will work as an app or reveal itself to users by right-clicking. It will be available as enhancements on popular apps like Paint, Photos and Clipchamp. Across other products, search engine Bing will be supported by OpenAI’s new DALL-E 3 model, while Microsoft 365 Copilot will integrate a chat assistant for enterprise solutions.
“We are entering a new era of AI, one that is fundamentally changing how we relate to and benefit from technology,” Microsoft stated in the announcement. An early version of Copilot will be available as a free Windows 11 update starting Sept. 26 and across Bing, Edge and Microsoft 365 later this year, said the company.
One of the tech giant’s bets is its Microsoft 365 Copilot, designed to assist users and enterprises with repetitive tasks, such as writing documents, summarizing and presentations. The solution works through Microsoft’s traditional applications — such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint — and costs $30 a month per user, on top of the subscription fee for accessing Microsoft 365 apps.
According to projections by financial firm Macquarie for Fortune, Microsoft has an estimated 382 million commercial users for its Office 365 product. Based on the report’s estimations, if just 2.5% of these users opt for the $30 Copilot 365 upgrade, the company could generate an additional $3.4 billion in annual revenue.
Microsoft is also advancing features on Bing with personalized answers. According to the company, its AI models will be able to cross chat history to deliver new results for users — for example, telling you when your favorite soccer team plays in your area and when you are available to attend. Bing will also ask its users more questions when shopping online, then use that information to provide more tailored results.
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