Microsoft's AI Ambitions Take Shape with Copilot Overhaul

Microsoft is pushing forward with its vision for AI to become an integral part of users' workflow. The company's Copilot assistant is at the forefront of this effort, and a major overhaul of its business tools has been unveiled. The new suite gives Copilot more control over Office, embeds GitHub Copilot's functionality into professional toolchains, and automates tasks between team members.

The revamped Copilot consists of several parts, including Home, Code, and Autopilot. Home is a chat interface that examines files to offer recommendations on how Copilot can help users, while also taking over Office 365 apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to automatically draft files for users to edit.

Code builds apps based on natural-language prompts using the same tools as GitHub Copilot. Microsoft claims that Code uses Microsoft IQ to maintain contextual knowledge of users' work environments beyond what it currently sees onscreen.