Microsoft Revamps Copilot AI Platform in Bid to Compete with ChatGPT and Google Gemini

Microsoft is revamping its Copilot AI platform in an effort to make it more useful and appealing to users. The new version of Copilot will be able to answer questions, work inside Office files, and complete larger tasks on its own. However, the platform has fallen behind competitors like ChatGPT, which accounts for 58% of U.S. web traffic to major AI chatbots.

Microsoft's Copilot costs businesses $30 per user per month, paid annually, on top of a Microsoft 365 subscription. At home, users can access Copilot free for basic chat, but more advanced features require a premium or pro plan. One advantage of Copilot is that it works directly inside Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams, eliminating the need to download documents from one place and upload them to another.

The new features are aimed at businesses and will reach companies in Microsoft's early-access program first. However, users who prefer other AI platforms can already use them inside Office programs. For example, ChatGPT can be added as an add-in to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and Claude works similarly but requires a paid plan.

Microsoft has built a capable product, but it remains to be seen whether Copilot is good enough to pull users away from the AI they already know. The timing of the release is interesting, given recent incidents where AI agents have begun to act independently, such as hacking into systems and accessing private images without permission.