Microsoft recently announced that its AI assistant, Microsoft 365 (M365) Copilot, has entered its second development wave. By integrating functions from software including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, Copilot is evolving into a unified AI interface for productivity applications.
Microsoft headquarters held a small-scale unveiling event, "Microsoft 365 Copilot: Wave 2," on the evening of September 16, Taiwan time. CEO Satya Nadella stated that there are over 400 million M365 users, and the number of Copilot users has continued to grow in the 18 months since M365 Copilot's release, breaking down silos between work applications.
Three main focuses of Copilot: Wave 2
Nadella emphasized that the next wave of Copilot's application focuses on three main areas. The first is the integration of data for "Web+Work+Pages." This integration of data from web searches and work applications on a single interface aims to improve efficiency for knowledge workers.
The second focus is embedding Copilot into various work scenarios. New functions include Copilot in PowerPoint with Narrative Builder, Copilot in Excel with Python, Copilot in Outlook with Prioritize My Inbox, Copilot in Teams meeting chat, and Copilot in Word. The third focus is incorporating Copilot at the organizational level in workflows, allowing users to build Copilot agents through Microsoft's platform.
Microsoft Corporate Vice President of AI at Work, Jared Spataro, stated that since Copilot's release, its reaction time has shortened, output satisfaction has improved threefold, and new model functions have continued to be integrated, including the recently released OpenAI GPT-4 model.
Using Copilot in Excel as an example, Spataro explained that business operations often involve data from different systems, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). While users typically return to the Excel interface to integrate data from SAP, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics, the integration of Copilot with spreadsheets can improve efficiency in data computation and graph generation.
Microsoft Office AI Product Manager, Hadley Griffin, demonstrated that asking Copilot questions in PowerPoint, such as how to promote commercial electric vehicles, prompts the system to automatically list numerous outlines, eliminating the original step of having to ask the chatbot before returning to PowerPoint to create slides. The AI image generator in Copilot incorporates Microsoft's Designer or OpenAI's DALL-E 3 models.
While many new functions are now available, it is speculated that the English version will be released first.
Copilot has become the flagship of various AI applications under Microsoft. In addition to the Copilot subscription plan attached to M365, which costs US$30 per month for each person, there is also a mobile app, Copilot App, available on iOS and Android. For the financial industry, there is Copilot for Finance. Meanwhile, in the PC sector, the name "Copilot+ PCs" is being used to promote new machine releases.
When OpenAI first led the Generative AI trend in early 2023, Microsoft initially planned to introduce new AI functions in Bing and Edge. However, possibly due to Google's search engine market share remaining stable, Microsoft shifted its focus towards office software. By incorporating Copilot into more productivity applications, the company is further emphasizing the impact of its in-house software.
Article translated by Charlene Chen
