This is a big step for the democratization of generative artificial intelligence. On Monday evening, the tech giant launched a subscription copilot equivalent of ChatGPT, accessible to all users of the 365 suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). Powered by OpenAI’s most powerful artificial intelligence model, this assistant can perform all kinds of office tasks: summarize text, write an email, collect data scattered in various documents, create images, write presentation slides… all, in a few seconds, a A click or a brief notification from the user. To get the enterprise version of Assistant, you have to pay $30 per month in addition to the Microsoft 365 license. The general public version, Copilot Pro, costs “only” 20 dollars per month (the price in euros is not yet known. , editor’s note) for users of the Office suite.
Copilot becomes a support for common people
The first generative AI tool deployed collectively by Microsoft, Copilot has the potential to surpass ChatGPT and its 100 million weekly users, as it will be able to rely on Suite 365’s pool of over 345 million paid subscribers. Make no mistake: To boost its tool’s chances of becoming number one in generative AI, it’s launching a Copilot app for smartphones at the same time. No doubt, the company is really targeting the general public.
However, in November, Microsoft reserved Copilot deployments for larger companies, which were able to take on at least 300 or more subscriptions. The tech giant wants to ensure that first-time users have enough resources internally and in their ability to call on specialized consultants to take advantage of CoPilot’s potential. The company then explained that it would quickly open up access to its tool for smaller companies, which it did by lowering the minimum license threshold to zero and making Copilot accessible through managed service platforms.
But the advent of a general public offering seemed distant: Jean-Christophe Dupuy, France director of Microsoft 365, still spoke of Copilot as a strictly BtoB tool when it was launched. With the launch of the BtoC market, Copilot Pro takes Microsoft’s generative AI strategy to another dimension. The tool becomes a direct competitor to ChatGPT and matches its premium subscription price of $20 per month. But unlike the latter, Copilot is connected to the 365 suite and therefore has a completely specific reference to the various documents present on the user’s account. However, it requires a subscription to Microsoft software.
Is Microsoft suppressing OpenAI?
With this new update, Microsoft also allows Copilot users to integrate (and soon, create) “Copilot GPTs”, in other words special versions of Assistant. For example, GPT can be dedicated to sports, travel or even cooking. Thus users face a more expert conversation without having to fully refer to their assistant when asking their question. OpenAI deployed this system just last week, and it’s already mirrored here at Microsoft…
In general, the situation seems strange to say the least between two closely aligned partners, Microsoft and OpenAI, the former investing heavily in the latter in exchange for exclusivity on its AI models. Their assistants rely on the same models, GPT-4 Turbo for text (and its older versions) and DALL-E 3 for images, which means they compete with the same weapons. But the success of one creates the success of the other because Microsoft pays OpenAI for use of its models, while OpenAI pays Microsoft for use of its infrastructure. It remains to be seen whether the two companies can actually maintain this “cooperation” in the long term, or whether Microsoft will gradually suffocate OpenAI, whose reign it finally managed to infiltrate after the Altman crisis in late 2023.
Either way, Microsoft should hit the jackpot. The sales turnover of the Microsoft 365 suite, filed in the Microsoft cloud box of its financial results, is estimated at billions of dollars per year, and this gold mine has grown. More than 18% Between 2021 and 2022. Precisely, Copilot 365 can therefore bring the company billions in additional turnover every year, even if it converts only a fraction of its customers.
