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Microsoft has unveiled a significant redesign of its Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing the business-oriented platform closer in functionality to its consumer counterpart through the integration of powerful new AI features. The update focuses on improving AI-driven search capabilities, introducing a ‘Create’ function powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o for image generation, and implementing ‘Notebooks’ for streamlined project organization.
Though the new Copilot omits the consumer version’s home screen, it defaults to a chat interface mirroring the consumer design. This chat interface boasts improved memory and personalization, learning from user interactions to deliver more relevant and customized responses. Jon Friedman, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of design and research, explained that the goal of the redesign is to enable Microsoft 365 Copilot to deeply understand user needs and provide the most appropriate tools.
The enhanced AI-powered enterprise search now extends its reach to encompass third-party applications such as ServiceNow, Google Drive, Slack, Confluence, and Jira, thereby ensuring comprehensive search results across diverse work environments. Collaboration is also a central theme of the update, with ‘Pages’ (initially launched in September) enabling real-time co-editing of documents among colleagues with the assistance of AI agents.
‘Notebooks’ function as project hubs, centralizing pages, links, and files that Copilot can utilize as context for specific inquiries. Meanwhile, the ‘Copilot Create’ feature, an evolution of Microsoft’s Designer, empowers users to generate a wide array of content for Office documents, including images, videos, and surveys, all leveraging the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT-4o. This includes the ability to generate AI-generated artwork for presentations.
A centralized ‘agent store’ provides easy access to both Microsoft’s and third-party AI agents, including specialized research and analyst agents, which are readily accessible from the left-hand navigation pane.
While differences persist between the consumer and commercial versions of Copilot, Friedman indicated that some separation is necessary to maintain a balance between personal and professional applications.
The update’s release coincides with Microsoft’s annual work trend index, which highlights the emergence of ‘Frontier Firms’ leveraging AI tools and the rise of human ‘agent bosses’ who delegate tasks to and manage AI agents. However, Microsoft also urges businesses to carefully consider the appropriate balance between AI agents and human oversight, as the increasing sophistication of AI agents raises important questions about the need for human supervision.
*Correction, April 23rd: An earlier version of this article stated that Pages was new, but it was first announced in September.*