Microsoft is rapidly expanding the presence of its ChatGPT-based AI tool within products and is now incorporating a new Copilot within its Office suite.
The online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook – which sit under the Microsoft 365 banner – will soon receive Copilot integration. And it sounds like the assistant has come a long way since Clippy!
A roll out date hasn’t been confirmed.
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Microsoft says the Copolit will be able to summarise key points from a Teams meeting, will assist with drafting emails, and will delve into Excel spreadsheets to pull out summaries and data charts. So, you’ll be able to ask Copilot for particular learnings – like the most profitable products – and receive validating information.
Copilot will also do the donkey work of creating a PowerPoint presentations from an existing document like a press release and the attached images.
Furthermore, Microsoft 365 users will be able to draft a Word document using data from existing files, including Powerpoint presentations, other documents, and notes from previous Teams meetings. It’ll be possible to keep or tweak the document from there.
Users will be able to ask Copilot to “prepare me for my upcoming meeting” by summarising related documents. Microsoft says automating these tasks will give workers the ability to focus on the areas of work that truly matter. It claims Copilot will transform the way we work by unleashing creativity, unlocking productivity and levellinging-up skills.
In a blog post, Microsoft writes: “We all want to focus on the 20% of our work that really matters, but 80% of our time is consumed with busywork that bogs us down. Copilot lightens the load. From summarizing long email threads to quickly drafting suggested replies, Copilot in Outlook helps you clear your inbox in minutes, not hours.
“And every meeting is a productive meeting with Copilot in Teams. It can summarize key discussion points — including who said what and where people are aligned and where they disagree — and suggest action items, all in real time during a meeting.”
The company says that of GitHub developers, who’ve been using Copilot, 88% believe they are more productive, while 74% said it gave them chance to focus on work they find more satisfying.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
