Microsoft introduces Microsoft 365 Copilot

Background

In early 2023 OpenAI had just announced GPT-4. Microsoft's answer was to bring language models into its productivity applications, connected to each company's own data.

What happened

On 16 March 2023 Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot, "your copilot for work". It came two days after OpenAI announced GPT-4.^[1][3]

The product pairs large language models, including GPT-4, with business data in Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps.^[1]

Key details

Copilot was built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. A new Business Chat experience worked across calendar, email, chats, documents, meetings and contacts.^[1]

Microsoft said it was testing Copilot with a small group of customers. It also said the models were not trained on tenant data or prompts.^[1]

Satya Nadella described natural language as "the most universal interface".^[1]

General availability for enterprise customers followed on 1 November 2023, at $30 per user per month.^[2][3]

Impact

The launch marked Microsoft's move from research-stage AI features to a paid enterprise product built into the core office suite. Its name and business model were later reflected in the Copilot products that followed.^[1][2][3]

Why it was a major step

Before this launch, large language models were mostly used through chat interfaces or developer tools. Microsoft's announcement brought them into the applications where office work is done, so that a user could ask for a draft, a summary or an analysis without leaving the document or spreadsheet. The business model, a paid per-user licence, was different from the consumer chatbot that people might have used for free.^[1][2]

What "general availability" meant

General availability means the product is no longer limited to a preview or a selected group of testers. In this case it meant enterprise customers could buy and deploy the product. Microsoft first made it available to larger organisations, so the rollout was staged by customer size.^[2][3]

Reading the sequence

The sequence of announcement, testing with a small group, and enterprise release is a common pattern for enterprise software. Readers can follow the product's later name changes and reorganisation through the product entry in this archive, which picks up from this launch.^[1][3]