Microsoft has announced several new capabilities for its Copilot AI productivity assistant, even as some analysts question whether the $30 per user monthly price provides enough value. Microsoft aims to bolster Copilot’s features to justify the cost.
Expanding Copilot’s Skills
The most notable addition is a new Copilot Studio service that will allow corporate users to integrate business data from platforms like ServiceNow and Workday. This should give the AI assistant more customized knowledge to draw from when generating content tailored to each company.
Copilot Studio represents a major step in leveraging organizational data to empower the assistant. Microsoft says it is included in the $30 monthly fee, so it significantly expands Copilot’s capabilities without raising the price.
In addition, Microsoft is enhancing Copilot across its suite of productivity applications:
In team meetings, Copilot will now be able to take live notes and meeting summaries even without generating a full transcription. It can also answer questions about the meeting while it is happening. Users will need to manually copy and save any AI-generated content they want to keep.
For Teams users with a Copilot license, the assistant can record notes live during meetings. Attendees will be able to give it instructions like “Write down what Dana said as a quote.” This note-taking assistance aims to make meetings more productive.
Copilot will gain the ability to create Teams chat messages on its own and suggest tone changes to messages. This could help teams collaborate more efficiently.
During team meetings, Copilot can now automatically generate visualizations of concepts discussed using the Whiteboard collaboration tool. This aims to capture ideas in a visual format.
In Outlook, Copilot will be able to aid with meeting planning by proposing attendees, agendas, and recommended documents to share with participants. This could significantly reduce time spent on meeting coordination.
In PowerPoint, Copilot can now create slides containing AI-generated images based on a company’s brand assets. It can work with Microsoft’s Designer app to produce on-brand graphics and illustrations tailored to each presentation.
Users will be able to enter the formatting and style preferences that Copilot will apply when generating content in Word and PowerPoint. This customization allows tighter control over the assistant’s output.
Early adopters report benefits
Some major companies already using Copilot seem pleased with the capabilities it currently provides, even before these new enhancements.
Visa has rolled out Copilot to hundreds of employees so far, the vast majority of whom want to keep using it. Workers at the payment processing giant are utilizing Copilot for drafting communications, editing documents, creating summaries, and more.
Visa’s experience highlights how AI assistants like Copilot can boost employee productivity and satisfaction. The ability to offload repetitive tasks like formatting documents frees up workers to focus on higher-value activities.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has stated that early adopters of Copilot report they “can’t imagine working without it.” This strong user feedback shows the impact AI assistants can have on modern knowledge workers. In addition, you can also read an article on- Microsoft Unvails AI-driven Cybersecurity Assistant ‘Security Copilot’
Microsoft Clearly Believes in Copilot’s Ongoing Value
By investing in major upgrades like Copilot Studio while maintaining the $30 per user monthly price, Microsoft is demonstrating confidence in Copilot’s value. The tech giant clearly believes the assistant will provide enough productivity benefits to justify the cost for organizations.
Of course, some analysts continue to question whether Copilot offers enough capabilities to be worth $30 per person each month at this stage. The AI assistant landscape is still nascent, and buyers may have unrealistic expectations.
Microsoft faces skepticism about Copilot’s price tag, despite enhancements like organizational data integration. But the company seems undeterred, forging ahead with upgrading Copilot to ultimately prove its worth.
The coming months will show whether the new features make Copilot indispensable for teams using Microsoft 365. But the tech leader appears confident that AI-powered assistants represent the future of work. Microsoft is staking a claim despite the risks, aiming to show organizations Copilot can quickly become an AI helper they can’t live without.