Microsoft’s Copilot is the brand of generative AI technologies of Microsoft. The company is expecting it to be a substantial earner, with one analyst estimating that it could make $10 billion in annualized revenue by 2026. Although the rollout has been confusing, 40% of companies in the Fortune 100 were testing Copilot by the fall, as per Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Forrester predicts that 6.9 million U.S. knowledge workers will be using some form of Copilot by 2024. Microsoft introduced three new Copilot offerings during Microsoft Ignite 2023: Copilot for Azure, Copilot for Service, and Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides. It also released Copilot Studio, a new platform that allows connections between Copilot for Microsoft 365 and third-party data.
Copilot for Azure, now available in preview, is Microsoft’s response to Google Cloud’s Duet AI. It is a chat-driven assistant for cloud customers, offering suggestions for app configurations and environments and assisting with identifying potential issues and solutions. Copilot for Azure uses generative AI models and pulls knowledge from technical documentation and user-specific setups and policies. Microsoft plans on adding more features to Copilot for Azure as the preview progresses.
Copilot for Service is designed for customer service use cases and integrates with CRM software like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365, Salesforce, SAP, Workday, and ServiceNow. It helps customer service agents by answering their questions and providing next-step suggestions.
Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides is intended to work best on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headset, providing support for mobile devices following several preview periods. It summarizes information for frontline workers and translates them into overlays on the equipment they’re maintaining.
Copilot Studio is a web-based platform for extending Copilot products for business customers, providing the capability to build their own tailored “copilots” using prebuilt connectors or ones that are self-built.