Microsoft integrates Word, Excel deeper into Copilot

Microsoft on Friday unveiled a new vision for how it will integrate Word, Excel and Powerpoint into its AI-powered assistant Copilot, in an effort to make AI the entry point for its famous suite of productivity software.

In the coming weeks, individual Microsoft 365 subscribers and businesses enrolled in its testing program will be able to create, edit and share files in Copilot without switching from one application to another.

“Many people have put simplified document viewers into their products over the course of the last year. But this is full-blown Office,” Jacob Andreou, an executive vice president in charge of Copilot, told AFP.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and Claude-maker Anthropic each launched their own document creation tools in recent months.

The two San Francisco-based AI labs are also key suppliers for Microsoft, since Copilot runs primarily on their models.

Microsoft unveiled a slate of in-house models in June, but for now they only power a few products, such as GitHub’s Copilot coding tool, Andreou said.

A low-cost model for routine tasks was also announced in June but has not launched yet.

Copilot now also includes Autopilot, software capable of handling automated tasks continuously on its own.

Previously called Scout, Microsoft described it in June as the company’s first “always-on” AI assistant which can run online even when a computer is turned off.

It remains limited to a handful of clients.

CEO Satya Nadella on Wednesday compared the arrival of these AI tools in the workplace to the advent of the personal computer, when an Excel spreadsheet sent by email gradually replaced typed internal memos sent by fax.

One of the key challenges, he said, is allowing a company to move from one AI model to another without losing its data or its know-how in the process.

“My test of true independence going forward is for you to have a private (evaluation system)” and be able to switch between models, Nadella said at an event for customers.

On the billing side, a Copilot subscription for US$30 per user per month provides access to basic AI features, such as data analysis or document drafting.

“That is the AI that you should give to everyone” in your company, Andreou said.

However, advanced agents, which consume more computing power, are billed according to usage.

“You should find your best people in your organisation,” the top 10 or 20 percent of workers, and start giving them access to the more powerful agentic tools, Andreou said.

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