Science & Technology

Microsoft Expands Office AI Copilot to Consumers

Microsoft is expanding access to its artificial intelligence-based virtual assistant for consumers.

Microsoft Expands Office AI Copilot to Consumers

The mentioned tech giant is also making the corporate version of the specified digital product available to small companies. In this case, Microsoft is trying to increase the number of customers who interact with services with integrated artificial intelligence on a commercial basis.

In a statement, the tech giant based in Redmond, Washington, noted that the consumer version of Copilot with access to OpenAI ChatGPT is available subject to a monthly payment of $20. Users who have signed up for a cloud subscription can apply the digital product to get answers to questions, solve data summarize tasks, and create content in Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Microsoft offers access to the artificial intelligence service to large businesses for a monthly fee of $30.

As part of new decisions regarding commercial policy, the tech giant got rid of the minimum subscription cost of $300. In this case, the financial condition for providing access to the artificial intelligence service is implied.

Microsoft is currently actively implementing AI into the digital ecosystem of its corporate products. In this case, the technology giant uses OpenAI developments. Microsoft has already updated almost all of its products using artificial intelligence. Offers related to the category of office tools and provided applying AI are some of the best ways for consumers to pay extra for advanced technology support.

Microsoft management claims that currently there is a high level of demand for artificial intelligence-based developments among customers of the company’s products and services. The head of Azure, Scott Guthrie, even compared this demand to queues at stores for Windows 95 software about 30 years ago.

Microsoft has been testing Office-based Copilot, which currently has the name Copilot for Microsoft 365, since March. Large-scale sales of this digital product began in November. Still, in this case, there was a condition according to which, to gain access to the virtual service, the buyer company must purchase at least 300 subscriptions.

Jared Spataro, vice president of Microsoft, said during a conversation with media representatives that the specified proposal did not apply to small businesses and those who wanted to start with a small trial. He also noted that the company has never seen such a high level of demand in the commercial space, such is currently typical for Copilot. Jared Spataro separately stated that a request for access to a digital product based on artificial intelligence was recorded from small and medium-sized businesses.

The Copilot Pro-consumer service offers features similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus, although integration with Office distinguishes the tech giant’s product. The corresponding statement was made by Jared Spataro.

Microsoft plans to expand access to a tool called Builder, which is similar to the solution from OpenAI, which debuted last year. In this case, private clients of the technology giant from Redmond will have the opportunity to create their own Copilots for a specific topic. This service is already available to businesses.

Microsoft’s privacy rules for the consumer version of Copilot are different from the rules for the business version. The technology giant announced that some of the requests and responses in the consumer modification of the digital product will be saved to retrain artificial intelligence models and improve the service.

Many investors are currently seeking cooperation with Microsoft. In their opinion, this interaction is an opportunity to benefit from the demand for artificial intelligence in cloud services, operating systems, productivity, security, and web search. Investors do not believe that competition from business giants such as Amazon and Google is a barrier or a kind of slowing factor for the full development of the company in the sphere of AI.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said at a conference in Seattle in November that artificial intelligence is the foundation of the identity of a software manufacturer. This statement can be described as a declaration of the technology giant’s absolute, in-depth focus on AI.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s head of Windows and Surface, said that regardless of whether users need advanced help in writing, coding, designing, training, or research, Copilot Pro guarantees a higher level of creativity, performance, and productivity.

As we have reported earlier, Microsoft Launches Copilot as App on Android.

Serhii Mikhailov

2993 Posts 0 Comments

Serhii’s track record of study and work spans six years at the Faculty of Philology and eight years in the media, during which he has developed a deep understanding of various aspects of the industry and honed his writing skills; his areas of expertise include fintech, payments, cryptocurrency, and financial services, and he is constantly keeping a close eye on the latest developments and innovations in these fields, as he believes that they will have a significant impact on the future direction of the economy as a whole.