Co-pilotMicrosoft’s in-house artificial intelligence (AI) assistant has started shipping in AI PCs across India. Dell and HP have already launched new laptops under the Copilot+ PC branding, and Microsoft Surface devices will be launched as well. Sale Starting August 5. Over the past few months, the tech giant has spent a lot of time talking about new features like Cocreate, Live Caption, and Windows Studio Effects. But there is a problem. Despite the hype around the AI-powered Windows operating system, the end consumer remains apprehensive about how these features can improve their daily activities.
There are other concerns as well. Competition in the AI chatbot space is fierce. GeminiOpenAI’s ChatGPTand Anthropic’s Cloud are just a few names among many. While Copilot has the advantage of becoming the default choice in AI PCs, it still needs to offer something that adds a distinct value to users’ lives to stand out from the competition.
To understand these complexities and the unique selling point (USP) of Microsoft’s Copilot AI, Gadgets 360 spoke to Shruti Bhatia, Country Head, Modern Work and Surface, Microsoft India and South Asia. During the conversation, we talked about the various ways in which end-users can benefit from integrated AI solutions and how they can make the most of their experience. Also, we touched upon the most burning question of them all.
Why use Copilot instead of ChatGPT?
Currently, the free version of Copilot is powered by GPT-4, and the paid Copilot Pro is powered by GPT-4 Turbo. In contrast, OpenAI’s in-house AI chatbot ChatGPT provides access to its latest flagship model, GPT-4 Omni (or GPT-4o). So, why would users opt for Copilot when they can get a faster and more powerful AI tool in the latter? “The biggest advantage when you use Copilot is that it is embedded in your applications. The work I do all day long is in my mail, chat, PowerPoint and Word documents. This is only possible with Copilot,” Bhatia explained.
Shruti Bhatia, Country Head, Modern Work and Surface, India and South Asia, Microsoft
Photo credit: Microsoft
Simply put, Copilot isn’t just a standalone chatbot. The tech giant has embedded AI capabilities into its Microsoft 365 apps, Teams and Paint, while certain features are available across the OS.
“Without leaving my application, I can get my work done. This saves me time and ensures that it understands the context of my query. This feature is only available when you work with CoPilot. It’s not about searching something on the web. It’s about being in your application and knowing the context of how you’re working with the background of all the information on your device,” Bhatia said.
How end users can make the most of Copilot-powered AI PCs
Another issue that could hinder its adoption ai pc There is a lack of awareness among users about the capabilities of generative AI. While most people know that an AI chatbot can hold conversations, answer questions, and even create images, they don’t know how to integrate it into their daily tasks to get the most out of the technology.
Bhatia answered the question by saying, “The power of AI impacts every aspect of your life. It can be in your personal or work tasks. It can be as simple as planning a vacation or asking the AI at the end of the day if I forgot any of my tasks. It can analyze, summarize and create documents; it can reply to emails with the right tone, and much more.”
To illustrate this, Copilot is available on Word, where it can analyze and summarize a document. It can also create documents with simple text prompts. The AI can also prepare a full-scale presentation via PowerPoint and write email replies. What Microsoft is offering is an assistant across all of its apps to reduce labor-intensive work, so users can focus on tasks that require their attention.
“Whether you’re searching, aggregating or creating, CoPilot can help with all three and impact both your work and play. CoPilot has the potential to truly become your friend and companion to enhance your day-to-day productivity,” Bhatia said.
the art of signaling
Getting AI to do your work is an attractive proposition. However, at times, it refuses to do what you need. At times, AI may get half of the prompt right while completely ignoring the other half. Or, it may fetch the right information but present it in the wrong format. Simply put, it can be frustrating to create the right text prompt that AI can understand and respond to correctly.
“Never worry about writing the prompt perfectly because you can always ask a question after that. However, being very clear, precise, and specific in your prompt will get you output faster,” Bhatia explains.
