Microsoft Corp. has launched Microsoft 365 Copilot, a powerful new generative artificial intelligence tool that will integrate with popular applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, among others.
This innovative solution aims to accelerate the pace of work and increase productivity by alleviating the burden of repetitive tasks and allowing employees to focus on creative tasks.
In line with this announcement, the company has expanded access to the Microsoft 365 Copilot preview and introduced new features to further improve its functionality. Furthermore, it has shared relevant data and information in its report titled “Employment Trends Index 2023: Will Artificial Intelligence Solve Jobs?”
According to data presented in the report, the current pace of work has exceeded human ability to keep up, which has a negative impact on the ability to innovate. The next generation of AI seeks to address this challenge by eliminating the monotony of work and unleashing employee creativity. Microsoft highlights the opportunity this represents for organizations, as those that adopt AI early will be able to break this cycle and increase the creativity and productivity of all employees.
Innovation and disruption in the hands of workers
Satya Nadella, president and CEO of Microsoft, highlights the importance of this new generation of AI, saying it has the potential to alleviate digital debt, develop AI capabilities and empower employees. In this sense, the report offers three fundamental insights for business leaders who want to adopt artificial intelligence responsibly in their organizations.
First, it highlights that existing digital debt hinders innovation. The volume of data, emails and chats has exceeded our ability to process them efficiently. It is essential to leverage AI tools to make communications more productive and reduce the time spent managing this digital debt, allowing employees to focus on creative tasks. According to the data presented, 64% of employees worldwide and 62% in Latin America believe they do not have enough time and energy to do their work and this affects their ability to be innovative or think strategically.
Secondly, the importance of establishing an alliance between AI and employees is highlighted. While some people are worried that AI will replace their jobs, the report reveals that the majority of employees, both globally and in Latin America, would prefer to delegate tasks to AI to reduce their workload . In fact, global leaders believe that AI can be more valuable by increasing productivity rather than reducing headcount. It is essential to understand that AI aims to empower employees, not replace them.
Third, the report highlights the importance of every employee developing core AI skills. Not only AI experts, but all employees will need to acquire new skills to make the most of AI-based tools in their daily working lives.
On the other hand, Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for modern work and enterprise applications at Microsoft, points out that the pace and volume of work has increased exponentially, surpassing human ability to keep up. In a world where creativity has become the new primary driver of productivity, digital debt represents more than just an inconvenience, it has become a threat to innovation. However, Microsoft aims to alleviate this problem by implementing the next generation of artificial intelligence, freeing employees from routine tasks and allowing them to focus on the work that really matters.
To empower businesses in the age of artificial intelligence, Microsoft launched the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access program, initially offered to 600 enterprise customers worldwide through an invitation-only paid preview program. This initiative aims to provide organizations with the tools they need to make the most of artificial intelligence in their daily work.
New features added to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Viva include:
- Whiteboard Copilot: Make meetings and brainstorming sessions in Microsoft Teams more creative and effective. Through the use of natural language, users can ask Copilot to generate ideas, organize concepts into themes, develop projects that bring those ideas to life, and summarize the content of the whiteboard.
- DALL-E Copilot integration into PowerPoint: This feature allows users to ask Copilot to generate custom images to support the presentation content. The integration of DALL-E, an image generator developed by OpenAI, gives users access to a wide range of automatically generated images.
- Copilot in Outlook: Provides training tips and advice on clarity, sentiment, and tone to help users compose emails more effectively and communicate with more confidence.
- Copilot in OneNote: Use prompts to help users plan, generate ideas, make lists, and organize information more efficiently. This feature makes it easier to find the information you need and improves productivity when using OneNote.
- Copilot in Viva Learning: Using a natural language chat interface, this feature helps users create a personalized learning process. It allows you to create skill development paths, discover new learning resources, and schedule time for assigned training.
With these new features in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Viva, Microsoft seeks to provide organizations with the tools they need to increase productivity, foster creativity, and free employees from monotonous tasks, allowing them to focus on meaningful, strategic work .
