What is Microsoft's Copilot + PCs? Here's a Look at What It Can Do
The competition in the AI industry, particularly in the development of chatbots to compete with ChatGPT, is heating up. Microsoft is the latest company to join the fray with its improved version of its search engine, Bing. Last May 20th, Microsoft stepped up the game by introducing its new category for Windows PCs designed for Artificial Intelligence, Copilot+PCs.
In February 2023, Microsoft announced a new version of its search engine, Bing, to compete directly with ChatGPT. At its launch, the improved Bing Chat boasted an AI chatbot far better than OpenAI's GPT4 powered by advanced technology. During the Microsoft Ignite event last November 2023, Microsoft decided to rebrand its AI chatbot and call it Copilot instead. The company is pushing the innovation envelope by introducing a new category of Windows PCs designed for AIs, the Copilot+PCs. This new product was revealed by the company at its special event on its new Microsoft campus last May 20th.
The announcement comes when Microsoft faces competition from its tech rivals in developing and launching generative AI technology that completes various tasks, including drafting documents, making images, and acting as a virtual personal assistant at home or work. In short, Microsoft wants its laptop users to get comfortable with its AI chatbot that "will remember everything that they're doing and help figure out what the user wants to do next."
Microsoft's announcement came just days before its annual Build developer conference, where it formally introduced its AI assistant, Copilot, and its integration into the Windows operating systems for PCs. In a blog by Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft executive, Copilot+PCs are "the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built."
According to Mr. Mehdi, this new technology has features that can help boost productivity. In the same blog, he shared that with Copilot+PCs, users can easily find and remember what they have seen in the PC with Recall, generate and refine AI images, and address language barriers with its Live Captions, with the ability to translate audio from 40+ languages into English.
Yes, the company added that you'll be working with a wonderful PC with an all-day battery life and access to its advanced AI models, which make work easier. According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, introducing Copilot+PCs is a step towards machines that see and hear us and reason about our intent and surroundings. He added that we're entering an era where computers understand and anticipate what we want.
Microsoft promises powerful AI experiences
Microsoft boasts its most powerful PC line with this new technology. The company's press release calls this latest product the"fastest, most secure Windows PCs ever built." It added that it worked with leading OEM partners like Dell, Acer, HP, Samsung, ASUS, Lenovo, and Samsung to create a powerful line of devices that it sees as "better than" Apple's MacBook Air 15. More than the technical specs and details, Copilot+PCs is all about the features that help deliver powerful AI experiences.
Recall instantly
Have you ever found yourself staring at your laptop screen for seconds, not knowing where to find your last document or what to do next? Microsoft wants to help you with its Recall Instantly feature on the Copilot+PCs. With the Recall feature, users can access virtually what they have done or seen on the PC. This feature leverages the user's personal semantic index, built and stored locally on the device.
Microsoft guarantees the privacy of information, saying that the users' snapshots are theirs and they can delete these. Also, users can filter apps and websites from being saved. In short, you still control your privacy and the sites you trust.
AI-powered image creation made easy
The popular Paint and Photo programs get an AI makeover with Microsoft's Cocreator. This feature on Copilot+PCs lets you work with your ink strokes and text prompts to generate new images in real-time. If you're not skilled with drawing but have unlimited imagination, Cocreator will make your stories come true. Cocreator will let you refine, edit, and improve your ideas to create powerful images.
Within Cocreator are a few tools that can help improve the mages, including a creativity slider that lets you choose from more literal to more expressive.
Better AI experiences from other creative apps
Microsoft has also worked with the developers of some of its well-loved applications to offer better AI experiences. For example, Microsoft has worked with Adobe to bring its flagship apps, such as Lightroom, Photoshop, and Express, to Copilot+PCs. Microsoft also expects other Adobe apps to follow, like Illustrator and Premier Pro.
Also, it boasts an improved CapCut that lets you remove the background from any video clip using Auto Cutout. Finally, the LiquidText feature lets users quickly annotate documents using AI.
Then, there's Copilot- A powerful personal AI agent
Finally, every Copilot+PC comes with a powerful personal AI agent called Copilot. The Copilot is based on a large language model (LLM), and it can cite sources, write essays, or even create songs and poems. Copilot was a direct replacement for both Cortana and Bing. Initially, the service was called Bing Chat, a built-in feature in Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Bing. Starting in 2023, Microsoft decided to rebrand these services and introduce Copilot.
Today, Microsoft users can access the service directly from the taskbar, and in January 2024, Microsoft announced that it has added a dedicated Copilit key on the Windows keyboards. Remember that there's a standalone AI chatbot (Copilot) and other specific applications that use the "Copilot" name, like Copilot for Windows and Microsoft 365. Think of the Copilot AI chatbot as Microsoft's answer to ChatGPT and X's Grok.
Microsoft's Copilot is somewhat similar to ChatGPT, as both fall under the category of generative AI since it can generate brand-new texts. It also relies on the same large language model developed by OpenAI. Like ChatGPT, Copilot offers a more advanced GPT-40 language model, as long as you only perform a few chats per hour.
But Microsoft takes it a step further by searching the web for information in real time, thanks to its use of Bing technology. However, this can work both ways since some information online is fake, thus introducing bias into the answers. The good news is that the chatbot can cite its sources at the bottom of the text, and you can always conduct additional searches using the Bing search engine. This Copilot feature allows users to verify the veracity of the produced texts.
Microsoft is embracing AI and leveraging the AI's technology to offer better and immersive experiences for its users. Users can become more productive when using Copilot+PCs, and with its own chatbot, answers become more accessible. Microsoft's foray into AI will not just benefit its users; this investment in AI will definitely reward the company in many ways as AI is slowly dominating several industries.
