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Microsoft is stepping up its effort to persuade consumers to embrace its Copilot AI-powered software that is designed to function as the world’s most intuitive and proactive personal assistant. Microsoft’s top AI executive called it nothing less than “a new kind of relationship with technology.”
Microsoft’s significant investments in artificial intelligence to date include the Copilot software suite, first introduced in 2023. On Friday, the tech giant unveiled a wide range of upgrades and new features. The goal is to encourage users to authorize Copilot applications to monitor their online lives in order to become ever better at anticipating an individual user’s needs and tastes. Microsoft is pitching Copilot to consumers as no mere a chatbot or a carefully programmed AI agent — but rather as a personal “companion.”
“It remembers not just what you said, but who you are,” Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, wrote in post on Microsoft’s official blog announcing the news.
With an emphasis on AI tools that handle personal shopping needs and basic errands, Microsoft touted a list of top digital commerce players as official launch partners with the Copilot update: 1-800-Flowers.com, Booking.com, Expedia, Kayak, OpenTable, Priceline, Tripadvisor, Skyscanner, Viator and Vrbo.
Microsoft offered examples of Copilot services running in the background while the user does other work to perform research tasks, make restaurant reservations, handle simple to-do lists and even tap into the user’s camera to analyze the health of house plants.
Another feature creates “bespoke” podcasts for users by scraping their digital files for audio and video material. The software also can create on-demand audio content in podcast form on topics of interest to the user.
“Copilot helps you stay organized, think clearly, learn more intuitively. It’s there when you need a quick factual answer, a long exploratory debate or when you fancy just downloading after a hard day,” Suleyman wrote.
“Copilot will understand you in the context of your life, and show up, on your terms, in the right way at the right time. This is far richer, more dynamic, supportive and emergent than any software we’ve seen before. It’s a new kind of relationship with technology, a new era.”
Microsoft’s materials emphasize that the software only works with the opt-in permission of the individual user. (“You remain in control,” Suleyman writes.) And it emphasizes that AI computing power can help enhance an individual’s online security. But it will still be an uphill climb to convince some users to open the digital lives to generative AI.
Copilot is gradually being integrated into a host of Microsoft software products and operating systems. There are pro-level versions available for $20 per month.
Through its business partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft has emerged as a force in the new frontier of generative artificial intelligence. Microsoft’s sheer size and scope allows it to invest in the consumer-oriented Copilot service as well as Azure AI Foundry, an app-building service, and Microsoft Fabric, a data-analytics platform that facilitates shared access among teams.
Among the Copilot extensions unveiled Friday at a media event at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington:
Memory and Personalization: Users who give permission to run Copilot with the Memory setting will train the AI agent to “remember important details: your favorite food, the types of films you enjoy and your nephew’s birthday, and his interests,” the post states. “As you interact with Copilot, it notes your preferences, building a richer user profile and offering tailored solutions, proactive suggestions and timely reminders. Copilot prioritizes security and privacy, giving you control through the user dashboard and the option to choose which types of information it remembers about you or to opt out entirely.”
Actions: This feature allows the AI service to “take action on your behalf,” Microsoft said, with “simple chat prompts to ask Copilot to book event tickets, grab dinner reservations, or send a thoughtful gift to a friend and it will check that task off your list.”
Camera: The integration of the user’s camera with AI tools is now available on mobile and desktop platforms. “Copilot and your phone’s camera now enable an interactive experience with the real world, in real time. From the Copilot app on your phone, you can look around at your surroundings and request information, guidance or ideas.”
Pages: This function “provides a way to organize your thoughts and content from chaos to calm.” It’s focused on assembling “all your scattered notes, content, research — whatever it is — and puts it in a canvas that Copilot organizes, simplifies and helps you with your first rough draft to your very final edits.”
Podcasts: In a nod to the popularity of podcasts and audio entertainment, Copilot now has a feature that can craft “AI-powered podcasts that curate and deliver personalized audio content based on your interests,” Microsoft said. “Copilot can create a personalized podcast to analyze and compare options like with a vacation plan or home purchase or you can provide content to Copilot like a study or specific web sites and Copilot will generate a podcast that helps explain the topic. While listening, you can continue to talk and interact with Copilot to learn more and keep the conversations going.”
Shopping: The sales pitch here is clear: “Doing the research, building comparisons, offering advice. It lets you know about price drops and sales and will let you purchase directly from the app.”
Deep Research: This feature facilitates analysis and organization of documents and images. It’s designed to conduct “complex, multi-step research tasks more efficiently — shaving hours off the time it would normally take to complete.”
Suleyman concluded his post by reiterating that Copilot aims to balance the level of human vs. machine concerns raised by generative AI with a clear template that gives users the yea or nay on opting in to specific services and tasks.
“An AI companion is completely personal, built around individual needs, values and expectations,” he wrote. “We’re focusing on one critical goal: to make [Copilot] truly yours. Each will have its own unique style and blend of attributes that distinctly suit each and every one of us. All the while, we’ll stick to our core promise. You remain in control, you are the pilot and you make the calls and set the boundaries.”
