mayaskChatGPT isn’t the only AI chatbot around. One direct competitor is Microsoft’s Copilot (formerly known as Bing Chat). If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s definitely worth a go. As part of a comprehensive suite of Microsoft tools, Copilot can be integrated into your smartphone, tablet, and desktop experience thanks to the Copilot sidebar in Microsoft Edge.
- How to Get Microsoft Copilot
- How to Use Microsoft Copilot on Your Phone
- How Does It Work?
- Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator)
- Is Microsoft Copilot the Same as ChatGPT?
- Other AI Options
Like any good AI chatbot, Copilot’s abilities are constantly evolving, so you can always expect something new from this generative learning professional. Today, we’ll give a crash course on where to find Copilot, how to download it, and how to make the most of this amazing bot.
How to Get Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot comes to Bing and Edge.
Microsoft
Copilot is available for free to the public, but you’ll need to create a Microsoft account (which is also free) to access it. If you don’t already have one, head to account.microsoft.com. The free version of Copilot is also built into Windows 11.
At the non-paid level, Copilot allows you to ask web-searchable questions, and it delivers thoughtful, information-rich responses with footnotes for future reference. For more advanced search results and integration with Microsoft 365 platforms like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, you’ll need to purchase either Microsoft Copilot Pro for $20 per month.
For Microsoft Teams compatibility, enterprise-grade data protection, and system customizations, you’ll need to sign up for the $30 per month Copilot for Microsoft 365 plan.
How to Use Microsoft Copilot on Your Phone
Alan Truly / Digital Trends
Using Microsoft Copilot on smartphones and tablets is easy, and accessing it via mobile is just as straightforward. All you need is an app! The official Microsoft Copilot app is available for iOS and Android devices. You can also access the Copilot chatbot through the Microsoft Edge and Bing apps (iOS and Android).
How Does It Work?
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Copilot works just like ChatGPT. You can ask it anything, and it uses an LLM (large language model) to understand and respond in natural human language. Microsoft has also been gradually rolling out Copilot features, and most of them are available for use now. In particular, the Edge Copilot feature is quite useful. The chat tab focuses on more conversational language, providing lots of suggestions on the types of questions you can ask. These include links to learn more, suggested follow-up questions, and functions that are more like a traditional search engine. In addition to chat, the sidebar also includes “Compose” and “Insights”. The “Compose” tab allows you to generate text in various tones and formats. You can choose from several different tones, formats, and lengths, which enhances the types of output Copilot will provide. For example, you can generate a professional email and paste it into your email client, or you can generate a short blog post in a humorous tone. If you don’t like the response, you can quickly generate a new one.
Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator)
Microsoft
Another great aspect of the larger Copilot experience is Microsoft’s AI image generator, known simply as Designer. This illustrative software allows you to create, edit, save, and share AI-generated images. You can access Microsoft Designer online or through the Android app. At the non-paid level, Microsoft Design gives you 15 image boosts per day, while the $20 per month Copilot Pro plan adds another 75 boosts to your Designer experience. A ‘boost’ is a type of digital currency for Designer that guarantees faster image generation.
Is Microsoft Copilot the Same as ChatGPT?
Microsoft describes the new Bing chat as “a new, next-generation OpenAI large language model” that’s more advanced than ChatGPT. Since the goal is to integrate it with Bing search, there are some differences. For example, Bing’s ChatGPT alternative is expected to be much faster than ChatGPT and go beyond the capabilities of GPT-3.5 in some ways. Known as the Prometheus model, Microsoft brings current news to its chat for up-to-date results that are still safe for Bing’s large user base. There was speculation that Copilot, operating as Bing Chat, used GPT-4, and Microsoft confirmed this after OpenAI announced the launch of ChatGPT-4. Microsoft had been testing the AI for over a year before its release, and some Microsoft community posts suggest that Bing Chat showed this behavior well before its release.
Other AI Options
Google
One such AI tool is Google’s Gemini. When Gemini first launched, its performance was a bit shaky, but it has since improved significantly. We also reported on Jasper AI, an OpenAI partner that provides a ChatGPT-like solution without a waitlist and is customized for business use. Regardless of which company comes out on top, it’s clear that AI-powered search is the future, and we can’t wait to see Google’s competitor in action.
