Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is rolling out Copilot Labs for some users to test beta features and provide feedback.
Microsoft launched a slew of new AI upgrades to its assistant Copilot with features that read aloud a summary of the daily news, a new “intuitive” way to brainstorm and ask Copilot questions and beta ‘skills’ that ‘think deeply’ and analyse your screen, answering your questions.
The announcements were made yesterday (1 October) at Microsoft’s New York City event and brought about a new look across mobile, web and Windows versions of Copilots.
Previously known as Bing Chat, Copilot is built into the sidebar of Microsoft’s search engine Edge, as well as on Windows 10 and Windows 11. Since January this year, Copilot is also available as an app on Android, iOS and iPadOS.
In a blog post yesterday, Microsoft AI’s CEO Mustafa Suleyman, who has been in this role for half a year, said that his focus is on what users experience. “Great technology experiences are about how you feel, not what’s under the hood,” he wrote.
He said Copilot will evolve to suit the mannerisms of its user. “Copilot will be there for you, in your corner, by your side and always strongly aligned with your interests.
“Over time it’ll adapt to your mannerisms and develop capabilities built around your preferences and needs. We are not creating a static tool so much as establishing a dynamic, emergent and evolving interaction.”
Here’s a rundown of the new Copilot upgrades.
Copilot talks ‘naturally’
Copilot Voice allows you to speak to, interact and brainstorm with Copilot. Calling this “intuitive” and “natural”, Microsoft claims you can even vent to Copilot at the end of a tough day. As of now, the assistant is only available in English in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Copilot Daily summarises news from authorised sources that Microsoft has partnered with. Currently, it partners with Reuters, Axel Springer, Hearst Magazines, USA TODAY Network and Financial Times, and the company plans to expand on sources over time.
“It’s an antidote for that familiar feeling of information overload,” Microsoft said. This feature is currently only available in the US and UK.
Microsoft Edge users can now access Copilot directly from the browser by typing ‘@copilot’ into the address bar. However, some newer PCs even have a dedicated keyboard key for Copilot.
The feature is built on to Microsoft edge with the aim of helping answer questions, summarise page content, translate text or rewrite a sentence.
Along with these upgrades, Copilot Labs gives users an opportunity to test beta features. Users can provide feedback and shape the end product that Microsoft creates.
New features in beta
At yesterday’s event, Copilot Labs launched with two features called Copilot Vision and Think Deeper.
Copilot Vision analyses what you’re viewing on the screen and answers questions about it. It can also suggest next steps and help you “without disrupting your workflow”, claims Microsoft.
As a safety mechanism, Microsoft has made Copilot Vision sessions optional, adding that any data is deleted after the session. Microsoft also says that it has reduced Vision to only work on some safe and popular websites and won’t work on paywalled pages. It is currently only available to a limited number of Copilot Pro subscribers in the US.
While Think Deeper tackles challenging questions that require deeper analysing and more time. Microsoft says that users can ask Think Deeper to answer questions that need weighing between two options. And similarly, the skill is still under development and is only available to a limited number of Copilot Pro users in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.
In addition, Microsoft also rolled out Bing generative search in the US, optimising search results and changing how they appear as a result.
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