Microsoft has just announced its newest AI-adjacent product – Copilot Pro, a business-oriented subscription that gives users access to “a higher tier of service for AI capabilities”.
Copilot launched late last year as a Windows 11 update, an assistant that you can call upon to pull up webpages, or ask questions, or chat to like ChatGPT.
I just want it noted, for the record, just how terrifying it is as a writer to see someone type “draft a blog post about sustainable design”, as in the above video, and how worried that has me for the future of literacy in any capacity. Yikes, please read this!
Copliot Pro provides five big features to paying customers. Nominally, the ability to build your own Copilot GPT (although Microsoft has flagged that this update is coming soon). This is the kind of thing a serious power user would want, and it’s an interesting release to come now, considering OpenAI just opened up its AI store. Microsoft said that you can build your own GPT with just a few prompts.
Besides this, another big feature is ‘Enhanced AI image creation with Image Creator from Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator)’. Microsoft reckons this enhanced image creator has more detailed quality, and can produce landscape images (with up to 100 entries per day).
Paying customers will also have access to the latest GPT models, including OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo during peak times. Users will also have the option to toggle between models. Copilot Pro users will also have access to the AI in Microsoft programs like Word and Excel across PC, Mac, and iPad devices, provided that they are also Microsoft 365 subscribers.
Finally, Microsoft is billing Copilot Pro as “A single AI experience that runs across your devices, understanding your context on the web, on your PC, across your apps and soon on your phone to bring the right skills to you when you need them”, and calls this a feature on its own. I, personally, don’t really want an AI to be running at all times, but AI enthusiasts forking over cash every month may think differently.
How differently, you may ask? Well, $US20, with Australian pricing unlisted at the time of writing. That’s… A lot of money! It’ll be at least $30 in Australia based on a quick currency conversion. Copilot is also now available on Android and iOS devices.