Microsoft 365 Copilot
the assistant inside Chat, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Teams and Forms
Answers questions in chat, and drafts, rewrites and summarises inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Teams and Forms, including summarising and transcribing Teams meetings. What it reaches is the part that matters: "Microsoft Graph brings a personalized organizational data context into the prompt, like information from a user’s emails, files, meetings, calendars, teams, or organizational relationships." It also comes with search across the whole organisation: "Copilot Search is an AI-powered universal search experience across all your Microsoft 365 applications and connected non-Microsoft data sources."
Microsoft Copilot Cowork
carries out tasks across Microsoft 365 rather than advising on them
Does the work instead of describing it. Microsoft: "You describe what you need, and Cowork sends emails, schedules meetings, creates documents, posts in Teams, and manages your calendar." On the control that sits over it: "You approve each action before it happens."
Copilot scheduled prompts
Copilot prompts that run themselves at set times
The same assistant, running without anyone asking it. Microsoft: "Microsoft Copilot scheduled prompts let users automate Copilot interactions at specified times and frequencies across Microsoft Teams, Office.com chat, and Microsoft Outlook." It has no off switch of its own, and the one that stops it stops other things too: "If you disable connected experiences, no one in your organization can see scheduled prompts in Copilot. This action also turns off other features in Microsoft 365 apps that your organization uses."
Copilot personalization and memory
builds and keeps a picture of the individual user, and is on unless switched off
Copilot remembers the person it is working for, and infers things about them from what they have typed. Microsoft: "Memories, which include saved memories, details inferred from chat history and custom instructions, are stored in the user’s Exchange mailbox in a hidden folder." ⚠ It is on unless somebody turns it off: "No action is required to turn on Copilot memory; you only need to turn off Copilot memory for end-users or the tenant if desired."
People Skills
infers a skills profile for each employee from their own documents, emails, chats and meetings
Profiles the workforce, not the work. Microsoft: "The People Skills inference engine uses Microsoft 365 profile and activity signals from the Microsoft Graph to create personalized skill profiles for users in your organization." On what it reads: "Profile and activity signals include documents, emails, chats, and meetings." Microsoft’s own caution about the result: "They aren’t intended to be a comprehensive reflection of a person’s capabilities."
Opal (Frontier)
an agent that operates a Windows cloud PC and a browser to complete jobs
Not a chat assistant: it works a computer. Microsoft: "Opal helps users complete jobs with CUA on a secure, Entra-joined, and Intune-enrolled Windows 365 for Agents Cloud PC". On how a person stays in it: "The agent operates within a Microsoft Edge browser, and users can supervise the agent to complete the job, intervening when necessary." Available only through the Microsoft Frontier programme.
Microsoft Copilot Tuning
tunes a model on your organisation's own data to build task-specific agents
Changes the model itself using the organisation’s material, rather than only prompting it. Microsoft: "Microsoft Copilot Tuning is an AI customization capability that enables organizations to create task-specific Copilot agents by tuning large language models (LLMs) with their own organizational data." On where it happens: "Because they operate entirely within the Microsoft 365 tenant, organizational data remains protected by existing security, compliance, and governance controls." On availability: "Microsoft Copilot Tuning is currently available to a limited set of customers through early access programs."
Agents built by Microsoft
ready-made agents Microsoft puts inside Copilot, such as Researcher and Analyst
Agents Microsoft builds into Copilot, each for one kind of job: Researcher for in-depth research, Analyst for data analysis, Visual Creator for visuals and videos, and coaches for ideas, writing, prompts, learning and careers. Microsoft: "With your Microsoft Copilot subscription, you have access to multiple agents from Microsoft that are built-in to Copilot or available for you to add." The coaches only appear once someone adds them: "The following agents are built by Microsoft, but don't show in the left navigation panel unless you add them."
Copilot image generation
makes and edits pictures from a description
Makes and edits pictures when someone asks for them. Microsoft: "When you allow this scenario, users can ask Copilot to create, design, and edit images. Users can add these images to their work in Microsoft 365 apps and Designer."
Vision in Microsoft Copilot
looks at the user's screen or phone camera and answers questions about it
During a voice chat, Copilot looks at what the user shares from their screen or phone camera and talks about it. Microsoft: "Copilot analyzes the visual content in real time, giving you insights, explanations, and guidance grounded in both the shared content and your work data."
Copilot Pages and Copilot Notebooks
pages and notebooks where Copilot writes, summarises and answers from your material
Two places to keep and keep working on what Copilot produces. Microsoft: "Copilot Pages are editable, shareable canvases generated from Copilot responses. Copilot Notebooks are AI-powered spaces that bring together files, chats, and pages to help users reason, summarize, and create content grounded in context."
Capture in Copilot Notebooks
records and transcribes conversations outside Teams, including in-person ones
Turns conversations that happen away from Teams into notes in a Copilot Notebook. Microsoft: "On iOS, use your phone to transcribe live conversations, snap photos of whiteboards, and type notes — all in a single multimodal session." and "On Windows, Capture automatically detects third-party meetings (Zoom, Webex, Google Meet, and more) and transcribes them in real time."
