Microsoft announces 365 Copilot, an AI-based assistant for the Office suite

(Image: Reuters)

Microsoft has announced AI-integrations for all of its Office 365 apps and services. The new AI assistant called Copilot will be available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and Business Chat.

The AI assistant is powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 technology, the same framework that powers ChatGPT, Bing AI and more.

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The assistant will be present in the sidebar on Office apps, allowing for quick access. Copilot can be used to create drafts, presentations, even formulas and tables in Excel.

“By grounding in your business content and context, Copilot delivers results that are relevant and actionable. It’s enterprise-ready, built on Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to security, compliance, privacy and responsible AI," said Jared Spataro, corporate vice president, Work and Business applications.

In Word, Copilot can help you write, edit and summarize copies or documents. It can turn basic ideas into PowerPoint presentation, allows you to create tables and charts in Excel, can automatically manage your inbox in Outlook, and improves Teams with the ability to summarize meetings in real-time.

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Microsoft is also introducing Business Chat, a central hub that works across Office 365 apps, allowing users to do things like generating status updates based on meetings, or summarizing emails and chat threads.