Frequently asked questions about AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI-powered digital assistant designed to help users with a range of tasks and activities on their devices. It can create drafts of content, suggest different ways to word something you've written, suggest and insert images, create PowerPoint presentations from your Word documents and many other helpful things.

It's currently in limited private preview.

For more information see our announcement post.

Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps like Word or PowerPoint is currently available only in a limited private preview. It will be coming to a wider audience in the coming months.

Copilot generates content based on language patterns it has found throughout the internet. Sometimes its results will be very similar to existing internet content. Or, Copilot might generate the same or very similar content for multiple people who are prompting Copilot in the same way.

For example, everyone who instructs Copilot to create a "recipe for apple pie" is likely to wind up with identical or nearly identical content. 

ChatGPT is a natural language processing technology from OpenAI that uses machine learning, deep learning, natural language understanding, and natural language generation to answer questions or respond to conversations. It is designed to mimic human conversation by understanding a user’s question or comment and responding in an engaging and conversational way.

ChatGPT uses advanced algorithms to try and understand what you're asking for, and then build a response by predicting what the next word should be as it builds its reply. It's trained on a set of public content from a specific point in time and doesn't search the live web to get answers. Because of this it may struggle to answer questions about recent events. 

Microsoft and OpenAI are working together to develop the underlying AI. Microsoft is developing and providing the supercomputing infrastructure that OpenAI services run on. 

Responsible AI is AI that is designed, developed, and deployed in a way that takes into account ethical, legal, and societal considerations. This includes considering the potential for unintended consequences, being transparent about how decisions are made, and respecting privacy. Responsible AI also requires building trust and ensuring accountability, as well as ensuring that individuals are not discriminated against due to their race, gender, or other protected characteristics.

For more information visit our Responsible AI site.

Neither your document content nor the descriptions you write are used for machine learning. Likewise, when you send feedback or report content, Microsoft uses your input to make feature improvements; your feedback does not directly impact the foundational AI models that Copilot is based on.

No, AI is not designed to replace people in the workplace. AI is designed to make certain tasks more efficient, but it will not be able to take over more complex tasks that require human judgment, decision-making, and creativity. AI can help businesses become more efficient and productive, but it won't replace the need for humans in the workplace.

AI can create drafts of content but it's still important to have a human in the loop to review, edit, and approve the content AI has created.

Yes, many Microsoft products have AI built in, including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Windows, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Cognitive Services.

1. Microsoft Bing Visual Search: Bing Image Search uses AI to understand the content of an image and show relevant search results.

2. Microsoft Cognitive Services: Cognitive Services is a suite of AI tools that enables developers to build intelligent apps and services.

3. Microsoft Translator: Microsoft Translator uses AI to provide real-time language translation for over 60 languages.

4. Microsoft Bot Framework: Bot Framework is a set of tools and services that allow developers to create intelligent bots.

5. Microsoft Office Insights: Office Insights uses AI to provide intelligent recommendations and insights to help users be more productive in Office.

6. Speaker Coach: Speaker Coach uses AI to give you feedback as you rehearse your presentations, helping you to become a better presenter.