Microsoft’s new Copilot will handle your mind-numbing Office tasks

Microsoft just announced some big-time changes to their suite of Office apps, and guess what? It involves AI, shocking right?

The announcement was made by none other than Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, and Jared Spataro at an event called “The Future of Work with AI.”

During the event, the duo explained how AI will change how we work in the years to come and how Microsoft plans to help guide those changes.

Microsoft plans to add AI smarts to its Office apps. This includes PowerPoint, where you can use an AI-powered Copilot to create entire presentations with just a few text prompts.

Need some animations or individual slide styles? No problem, just tell Copilot, and it’ll take care of the rest.

Via Microsoft’s blog post:

“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “With our new copilot for work, we’re giving people more agency and making technology more accessible through the most universal interface — natural language.”

Copilot is coming to other Office apps too

That means you can use it to help you write a speech in Word, put together a to-do list in OneNote, or draft a group email in Outlook.

Plus, everything will be editable, so you can make changes directly or ask Copilot to do it for you.

How does it all work? Microsoft is using its 365 apps, a large language model, and Microsoft Graph to analyze your files and data to learn how to help you best.

It’s not just ChatGPT connected to Office; it’s a whole lot more than that.

Now, we have to mention that Microsoft’s AI efforts have come under serious scrutiny lately. After investing heavily in OpenAI, they integrated ChatGPT into their products, resulting in Bing Chat.

Unfortunately, the launch has been marred by reports of erratic behavior and unsettling messages, but I suppose there are always hiccups when you roll something of magnitude to the general public

Regardless, this new Copilot feature sounds promising. Microsoft says to expect PowerPoint with Copilot to gradually roll out over the next coming months.

Editors’ Recommendations:

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Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.