By
Mayowa Adebajo
April 29th, 2024
The company plans to offer an early version of Copilot as a free Windows 11 update starting on September 26, with extended availability across Bing, Edge, and Microsoft 365 scheduled for later this year.
Microsoft has unveiled its latest advancement in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technology into its product offerings. In an announcement on September 21, the tech giant introduced Microsoft Copilot, a cutting-edge solution that seamlessly incorporates AI models into Windows 11.
The US-based company held a “special event” conference in New York City on Thursday, announcing the Copilot launch along with other products, including the high-end Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3.
While focusing on the new AI solution, the company said that Copilot strives to enhance coding efficiency on GitHub, revolutionize productivity on Microsoft 365, redefine search capabilities on Bing and Edge, and provide contextual value across apps and PCs running Windows.
Early Version of Copilot to be Available on Windows 11
The newly introduced AI feature described by Microsoft as “your everyday companion” is designed to work as an application and can also be accessible through a simple right-click.
Copilot will also be available to users across the company’s other products, such as Paint, Photos, and Clipchamp. Additionally, Microsoft said the AI solution will be available on Windows 11, Microsoft 365, and the company’s web browser with Bing and Edge.
Aside from making the Microsoft Copilot accessible to users, the company said that its search engine, Bing, will be supported by OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 model. At the same time, Microsoft 365 Copilot will introduce a chat assistant tailored for enterprise solutions.
“At Microsoft, we think about this as having a copilot to help navigate any task. We have been building AI-powered copilots into our most used and loved products – making coding more efficient with GitHub, transforming productivity at work with Microsoft 365, redefining search with Bing and Edge, and delivering contextual value that works across your apps and PC with Windows,” the company said.
Microsoft to Unveil Early Version of Copilot Next Week
The company plans to offer an early version of Copilot as a free Windows 11 update starting on September 26, with extended availability across Bing, Edge, and Microsoft 365 scheduled for later this year.
The highlight of the company’s new AI solution is its flagship offering, Microsoft 365 Copilot, designed to streamline repetitive tasks such as document creation, summarization, and presentation building. This invaluable tool integrates seamlessly with the company’s familiar applications, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It is priced at $30 per month per user, in addition to the subscription fee for accessing Microsoft 365 apps.
The company’s other product, the high-end Surface Laptop Studio 2, has an initial price of $1,099, while the Surface Laptop Go 3 starts at $799. Both devices are set to become available on October 3 at midnight.
Microsoft Could Generate Billions from New AI Solutions
According to projections by financial firm Macquarie, Microsoft boasts an estimated 382 million commercial users for its Office 365 product. The report suggests that if just 2.5% of these users opt for the $30 Copilot 365 upgrade, Microsoft could generate an additional $3.4 billion in annual revenue.
Microsoft is also enhancing Bing’s capabilities with personalized answers, utilizing AI models to sift through chat history to provide relevant results.
For instance, users can expect Bing to inform them about their favorite soccer team’s local matches and available attendance slots. Bing will also gather more user-specific information to refine its search results when shopping online.