Microsoft Copilot AI

Copilot Pro is a “web-grounded” version of Copilot, providing AI-powered assistance to individuals. It offers a range of features such as faster performance, priority access to GPT-4 models, and AI image creation capabilities. It’s suitable for personal use or for those who need AI assistance with information found exclusively on the public web.

Copilot for Microsoft 365, on the other hand, is an enterprise-grade solution that integrates deeply with Microsoft 365 and leverages an organization’s ‘graph’ for grounding. It allows users to chat with Microsoft Copilot, which can reason over work content and context, providing a more comprehensive set of features for businesses, including integration with various Microsoft 365 apps and priority access to the latest AI models.

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a powerful, low-code conversational AI platform introduced in November 2023. It enables users to extend and customize Copilot for Microsoft 365, allowing the creation of personalized AI models and copilots tailored to specific needs.

With Copilot Studio, users can build and maintain AI-powered conversational interfaces using large language models and additional knowledge sources, all running within the Copilot Studio service. It’s designed for both internal business use and external customer-facing scenarios, providing a graphical interface for creating chatbots without coding. The platform includes features like GPT-based capabilities, entities, variables, and analytics, making it a versatile tool for any organization looking to harness the power of AI for communication and interaction

The Microsoft Graph is a comprehensive developer platform that connects various services and devices within the Microsoft ecosystem. It serves as Copilot for Microsoft 365’s gateway to data and intelligence in Microsoft 365, offering access to a vast amount of data across Microsoft cloud services.

A key aspect of Microsoft Graph is its commitment to data security. It protects access to data by operating under the principle of least privilege, meaning it only uses the permissions granted by the user. This ensures that applications and services can only access the information they are explicitly given permission to, thereby safeguarding user data and respecting privacy. Microsoft Graph’s security model is designed to give users and organizations control over their data while enabling powerful integrations and insights

Whether you need Microsoft Copilot depends on your specific needs and how you use Microsoft 365 applications. Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI-powered tool that can help automate routine tasks, provide intelligent insights, and enhance collaboration within your organization. It can analyze emails, files, meetings, presentations, chats, and events to save time and boost creativity. If these capabilities align with your goals to improve productivity and streamline workflows, then Copilot for Microsoft 365 could be a valuable addition to your toolkit

Copilot for Microsoft 365 allows you to chat with Microsoft Copilot, which can reason over your work content and context. It’s designed to help you quickly get up to speed on projects, collate information across your content, create new content from multiple sources, and prepare for upcoming meetings.

ChatGPT does not have access to your corporate data and does not offer commercial data protection for the prompts and data with which it interacts.

For businesses, bringing Copilot to your organization with a Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Business Premium subscription starts at CAD $40.70 per user/month with an annual commitment. Additionally, Microsoft Copilot Studio, which allows for the creation of personalized AI models and copilots, is priced at CAD $271.40 for 25,000 messages per month.

Please note that these prices are subject to change and it’s always best to contact F12 or the official Microsoft website for the most current pricing.

Copilot is a powerful assistant that can rapidly review and analyze all corporate data accessible by any requesting individual. That is powerful, but raises important concerns.

Security Vulnerabilities: Improper permissions within Microsoft 365 can lead to uncontrolled dissemination of sensitive data, raising the risk of breaches and potential compliance penalties

Data Quality and Organization: The effectiveness of Copilot’s AI algorithms depends on high-quality, well-organized data. Inaccurate or disorganized data can lead to poor decision-making and business outcomes.

Inaccurate Data Classification: Sensitivity labels need to be precisely applied to secure data, and documents created by Copilot do not automatically apply these labels from their source materials

It’s essential to conduct a thorough Security and Readiness Assessment before adopting Copilot for Microsoft 365 to ensure that the organization is prepared to mitigate these risks.

Commercial Data Protection for Microsoft Copilot is a feature that ensures both user and organizational data are protected when using Copilot. This feature ensures that prompts and responses aren’t saved, Microsoft has no eyes-on access, and chat data isn’t used to train the underlying large language models, differentiating it from Copilot for Microsoft 365, which has access to organizational data in the Microsoft 365 Graph.

Commercial data protection is generally available for most Microsoft 365 and Office 365 work and school licenses at no additional cost.