Microsoft used Ignite 2023 to bring its Copilot brand into more products and outline how AI could work across its cloud services, workplace tools and Windows devices. The announcements also included custom chips, a unified planning product and a text-to-speech avatar tool with restricted access to custom avatars.
Copilot moves beyond Bing
Microsoft renamed Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise to Copilot. The assistant is available in Windows, on Copilot.Microsoft.com and through Bing, positioning it beyond its original association with the search engine.
Microsoft said Copilot would be included in Microsoft 365 F3 starting December 1. For other customers, it would be available for $5 per month. The change puts the assistant within reach of users through several Microsoft products and enterprise plans.
New chips and AI assistants for business
Microsoft introduced two data center chips: the Azure Maia 100 AI Accelerator and the Azure Cobalt 100 CPU. Maia 100 is designed to train and run AI models, while Cobalt 100 is intended for general-purpose workloads. Both were expected to begin rolling out to Azure data centers early next year, initially powering services such as Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service.
The company also announced several Copilot tools for specific work. Copilot for Azure is a chat-based assistant for cloud customers and was available in preview. Copilot for Service can answer common questions from customer service agents using company websites, knowledge articles and offline databases.
Copilot Studio lets Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers describe a custom assistant in natural language. For example, a business could describe a chatbot for expense management. Studio was available in public preview for existing Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscribers.
Another tool, Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides, can summarize information for frontline workers and display it over equipment they are maintaining. Microsoft said it would first be offered in private preview to a limited set of customers, with a limited set of capabilities.
Changes to meetings and planning
Two Teams features apply AI to the setting and sound of video calls. “Decorate your background” can reduce visible clutter and add plants or decorations to a room’s background. A separate voice isolation feature is designed to reduce repetitive noise and other people’s voices.
Voice isolation was rolling out at the time of the announcement, with general availability planned for early 2024. The background decoration feature was expected early next year in Teams Premium.
Microsoft also said it would bring Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Project together as a new Microsoft Planner, aiming for a more unified experience. A Copilot in Planner is intended to help users plan faster and suggest tasks. The new Planner was set to arrive in Teams in the spring of 2024, followed by a web version later in 2024.
AI on Windows, and safeguards around its use
Windows AI Studio is a toolkit for developers who want to fine-tune, customize and deploy generative AI models for local, offline use in Windows apps. Microsoft said the catalog would include Meta’s Llama 2 and Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion XL.
For Azure AI Speech text-to-speech avatars, Microsoft described a tool that creates a photorealistic avatar and animates it to speak words the person may not have said. The company acknowledged the potential for misuse. At launch, most Azure subscribers would have access only to prebuilt avatars; custom avatars were limited-access and available by registration for certain use cases.
Microsoft also expanded a copyright protection policy for eligible Azure OpenAI Service customers. It may defend and compensate customers facing “adverse judgements” from copyright infringement claims tied to service outputs. The protection does not apply automatically: subscribers must implement technical measures and follow risk mitigation documentation to be considered.
Together, the announcements show Microsoft applying generative AI across more parts of its products, from cloud operations and customer service to meetings and local Windows development. Access varies by feature: some tools were in preview, while other capabilities had limits or planned rollout dates.