What is Copilot?
Copilot is an AI-powered tool that can be accessed on Windows 11 and other platforms. It serves as an AI companion for users, residing on the right panel of the Windows 11 interface. Copilot offers a wide range of functionalities, including drag-and-drop photo analysis, text summarization, travel planning, music playback via Spotify, photo editing, creative brainstorming, and even answering questions based on text conversations from paired smartphones.
Integration with Paint is one of Copilot’s standout features. Users can easily extract the background of uploaded images with just a click, making image editing a breeze. But Copilot’s capabilities extend beyond these tasks. Users can also adjust Windows 11 settings, organize windows, and enable dark mode.
Accessing Copilot is free for Windows 11 users with a Microsoft account. Additionally, a free tier of Copilot is available through copilot.microsoft.com on web browsers. Mobile users can download Copilot from Google Play and the Apple App Store for a seamless mobile experience. It’s important to note that Copilot is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 language models, which are also used by ChatGPT.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 apps
For users seeking enhanced functionality, Copilot offers a Pro subscription for Microsoft 365 apps. This subscription costs $20 per month and includes a free trial period. With Copilot Pro, users can leverage AI capabilities in apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Features include email thread summarization in Outlook, discussion recaps in Microsoft Teams, transforming existing documents into presentations in PowerPoint, and natural language queries about Excel data sets. The Pro subscription utilizes OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo model, with support for GPT-4o expected soon.
Accessing Copilot via Surface laptops
Microsoft introduces “Copilot+ PCs” with the latest Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 models, featuring a dedicated NPU (neural processing unit) designed for AI tasks. These devices offer the most advanced Copilot features, allowing users to edit photos directly in File Explorer and receive summaries via notifications. The Recall feature is particularly intriguing, as it uses AI to record a user’s PC activity throughout the day, enabling easy retrieval of information using natural language search queries. Mashable plans to review the Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 to provide insights on their suitability for Copilot users.
Impact on consumers
While Copilot also benefits enterprise users and developers, this article focuses on its value for average consumers. As the AI race heats up, Microsoft is likely to add more features to enhance Copilot’s capabilities. Stay tuned for updates on Copilot’s progress and any future upgrades.
