As demand for artificial intelligence (AI) tools continues around the world, Microsoft has unveiled a significant expansion of its Copilot platform.
The company says its new Copilot Pro subscription tier will deliver the most advanced features and capabilities of Microsoft Copilot, at a cost of $20 per month/per user, in addition to the existing free tier – which will continue.
But the company also announced that it will be bringing even more Copilot to Microsoft 365 business users desperate for access when it comes to apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more.
Microsoft Copilot Pro – and on M365
Microsoft says Copilot Pro will deliver “a single AI experience” across all your devices, providing context-specific advice and guidance when you need it. It will be powered by some of the very latest AI models, starting with Open AI’s GPT-4 Turbo, which offers faster and smarter support than previous generations.
Users will also soon be able to build their own Copilot GPT through the upcoming Copilot GPT Builder, which offers the ability to create custom Copilots tailored to specific topics. Subscribers also get access to Designer’s Image Creator (formerly known as Bing Image Creator), delivering enhanced AI image creation with higher quality than ever before.
“As we start a new year, we’re excited to see people increasingly using and appreciating Microsoft Copilot for work and life,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Executive Vice President and Consumer Chief Marketing Officer. “Our goal is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more by bringing Copilot, the everyday AI companion, to millions of people around the world.”
Elsewhere, the company revealed that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now available to organizations of all sizes, with no seating minimums, making AI smarts available in Word (pictured below), Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Microsoft Teams.
This includes small businesses with Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Business Standard subscriptions, who can now purchase between one and 299 licenses for $30 per person per month.
Microsoft is also removing the 300 seat purchase minimum for commercial plans and making Copilot available to Office 365 E3 and E5 customers (which previously required a Microsoft 365 license), and revealed that commercial customers can now purchase Copilot for Microsoft 365 over the network from Microsoft Partners of cloud solutions providers.
“Copilot for Microsoft 365 is even more powerful for organizations because it works across the entire universe of workplace data, including emails, meetings, chats, documents and more, plus the web,” said Mehdi.
“With today’s announcements, we continue to bring Copilot to more customers with more options that work for them. Whether you want to get started with Copilot for free, supercharge your Copilot experience with Copilot Pro or an SMB or Enterprise If you want to increase your productivity in new ways with Copilot for Microsoft 365, there’s a Copilot experience for everyone.”