Microsoft has unveiled its plans to integrate artificial intelligence into its most popular productivity tools—including Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word—with the promise of transforming how millions of people get their work done every day.
The company announced that Microsoft 365 users will soon be able to use what it calls an “AI Co-pilot,” which will assist in editing, summarizing, creating, and comparing documents. But don’t call it Clippy. These new features, built on the same technology that powers ChatGPT, are far more advanced than the wide-eyed paperclip of the past.
With these new capabilities, users will be able to transcribe meeting notes during Skype calls, request the creation of specific charts in Excel, and convert Word documents into PowerPoint presentations—all in just a few seconds.
Microsoft is also introducing a concept called Business Chat—an agent that essentially works alongside the user, aiming to understand and interpret their Microsoft 365 data. According to the company, the agent will know what’s in the user’s emails and calendar for the day, the documents they’ve worked on, presentations they’ve created, the people they’re meeting with, and the conversations happening on Teams. Users will be able to delegate certain tasks to Business Chat, such as summarizing documents across the platform and drafting an email to update the team on recent developments.
Microsoft believes these changes will improve the way people work and help them complete tasks faster than ever—freeing up time for more analytical and creative pursuits.
