Microsoft just celebrated its 50th anniversary. The tech giant’s success story means it’s now often referred to as one of the Big Tech Big Five or Magnificent Seven companies, given Microsoft’s central role in the evolution of personal computing in the last five decades. And now, it’s at the top of the artificial intelligence game as well.
Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched in November 2022, tech companies have been delving into the potential of generative AI. Microsoft joined forces with OpenAI for a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment. One of the results of this partnership is the creation of Microsoft’s own AI tool, Copilot.
Copilot launched in 2023 as a successor to Bing Chat, which, in a way, evolved from Cortana, though it used a different underlying technology. But you get my point: Microsoft’s virtual assistants have had a long evolution.
Microsoft did have a couple of false starts with AI, though — like its Recall feature, which was quickly dropped from Copilot Plus PCs (though Microsoft said last week it’s ready to try again with Recall). But I’ll talk more about that and other privacy concerns later.
So, what exactly is Microsoft Copilot? It’s an AI assistant, a chatbot, an app — a little bit of everything. The umbrella term Copilot can be a bit confusing, so let’s explore what it means in its applications and how you can use it.
Copilot is Microsoft’s branding for various AI-powered tools embedded across its ecosystem, including in Windows, Edge, Bing, Microsoft 365 (all the Office apps), Teams, GitHub and security tools. You can also download the Copilot app on your iOS and Android devices.
The branding has also expanded to PCs as Microsoft rolled out an AI laptop, Copilot Plus PC. Windows 11 laptops and Copilot Plus PCs both come with a dedicated Copilot key that lets you jump straight into your AI assistant with one click on a keyboard.
Copilot is powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o and Dall-E 3 in addition to Microsoft’s own proprietary Prometheus model. It uses large language models to write text, create images and songs, search the web, summarize emails, generate code, automate tasks and assist you across the apps you probably already use.
Copilot vs. other AI chatbots
Microsoft / Screenshot by CNET
Because it’s an AI chatbot, you can compare Copilot to ChatGPT, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Anthropic’s Claude (though Claude isn’t connected to the internet like the rest). These are all standalone chatbots where you enter prompts and get responses.
Copilot can also appear inside your apps and work directly with your content. For example, instead of asking ChatGPT to write an email and then copying it into Outlook, Copilot lives inside Outlook and generates the draft using your email history and context. It saves time and reduces the number of steps to get things done.
As an AI assistant, it resembles how Google’s Gemini works across its software products, but Copilot is more tightly embedded into productivity tools. Meta AI is also integrated across its social platforms, but is better for casual and creative use.
What can Microsoft Copilot do?
Microsoft / Screenshot by CNET
On Windows 11, Copilot is built directly into the taskbar as a sidebar assistant. You can use it for system settings, emptying the recycle bin, finding files and more. Edge also includes Copilot, offering contextual assistance like summarizing articles or comparing products while you browse. Imad Khan, a CNET senior writer covering AI, liked Copilot in Bing so much that it became his default search engine after he reviewed it. And if you’re a developer, GitHub Copilot can suggest code snippets as you type.
When you use Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI draws from the context of your files and data, like calendars or chats (with your permission), to generate content or provide suggestions. In Word, it can draft, edit and summarize documents. In Excel, it can build formulas, analyze data and generate charts. It’ll whip up a deck for you in PowerPoint based on a prompt or a Word doc. Outlook Copilot drafts emails and summarizes threads. In Teams, it can generate meeting summaries and pull context from chats you weren’t paying attention to (we’ve all been there).
Copilot also now has a new Windows app and Copilot Vision for your phone, which can analyze your photos in real time.
How much does Copilot cost?
There are different versions and paywalls for Copilot, depending on the platform.
For individual users, a more limited but still very useful version of Copilot is available for free in Windows 11, Edge, Bing and as a mobile app. There’s also Copilot Pro for individuals, which costs $20 per month and includes priority performance during peak times, faster image creation and enhanced AI features in selected apps if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 is aimed at business users and costs $30 per user per month. This version includes the AI tools embedded in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. But it requires specific licenses to use. Microsoft 365 Copilot prices might increase in some parts of the world.
There are also Microsoft 365 Business Plans plus Copilot plans, which vary in price per user. GitHub Copilot has separate pricing for individuals and businesses, too.
The most expensive version is Copilot Studio, priced at $210 or a pay-as-you-go option, which lets you create your own AI agents.
Microsoft / Screenshot by CNET
Privacy concerns
AI tools integrated into the software we use daily can quietly blur the line between helpful and intrusive. Since Copilot is built into everything from your desktop to your search engine, it’s constantly watching, analyzing and learning from your activity to be more useful. It makes you wonder if surveillance is often masked with convenience.
Ashique KhudaBukhsh, professor of software engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, who specializes in AI and Natural Language Processing, and who also used to work as a software developer for Microsoft, said the tech giant’s security standards are pretty high. But he also admits: “As the AI tools increasingly operate across diverse platforms, there is an elevated risk that the data may bleed from one system into another.”
“The job of the user is to make sure that whenever you are, say, opening or downloading a new application or something, there is fine print where you can actually opt out,” KhudaBukhsh says.
He says vulnerable groups, like senior citizens, should be educated and trained so they are up to speed with the risks of AI and can protect themselves until there is more regulatory oversight of this.
But KhudaBukhsh also notes there are some common misconceptions about AI and privacy. “AI systems are [not] intrinsically invasive,” he explains, since “many of these systems are built with privacy by design principles.”
While AI tools need access to data to function, “systems with reputation typically anonymize and process that data in ways that do not have enduring personal records.” So even if you unintentionally share something sensitive, he says there are checks and balances to make sure personally identifiable information, like SSNs, is removed. He says this is true even when your info is being used in training data.
One stumble Microsoft had with AI and privacy was Copilot’s Recall feature. This AI memory tool was designed to help you find things you’ve seen on your screen. You describe what you remember, and it pulls results from your timeline of screenshots (called snapshots), which it periodically takes of your activity. Everything happens locally on your Copilot Plus PC and nothing is uploaded to the cloud or sent to Microsoft. You’d also need to opt in for this feature and sign in with biometrics through Windows Hello.
After heavy criticism over privacy concerns, Recall was pulled from general release and is only now beginning to gradually roll out in preview to Windows Insiders as of April 10. Microsoft also announced enhanced data protection for Copilot at the end of last year.
Microsoft did not provide comment on AI and privacy.
New features and releases
Microsoft calls Copilot its “ultimate AI companion” and continues expanding where and how it advances. The company announced several new features in February and March, like product price tracking for all US users. Think Deeper’s reasoning model has been upgraded to OpenAI’s o3-mini (high) and now offers unlimited access for free, along with the Voice feature.
I created this image on my iPhone in WhatsApp after giving Copilot the prompts.
Screenshot by CNET
Interacting with Copilot across messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram has also been extended to GroupMe and Viber. To activate this feature, scan a QR code on apps’ support pages or add the Copilot’s chat number (+1 877-224-1042) to your contacts.
Microsoft Copilot is one of the better AI assistants currently available, thanks to its deep integration across Microsoft’s ecosystem. It’s designed to help with your productivity and alleviate the dread of mundane tasks.
Like every AI tool CNET has reviewed so far, it’s not perfect. But if you’re already using Microsoft software, Copilot could make your daily workflow easier.
Just remember that, like all other AI tools, it can hallucinate or offer outdated information. You also should be wary of the personal data you share when you use any AI system.
As KhudaBukhsh says, “It could be very convenient to use technology, but at the same time, we need to be very mindful of what we are sharing, and if we are understanding the trade-off between convenience and security.”
