Microsoft is expanding the reach of its AI copilots by adopting the plug-in standard introduced for ChatGPT by OpenAI. The plan gives developers a common way to connect services with ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Dynamics 365 Copilot and the newly launched Windows Copilot.
Plug-ins could let an assistant look up information, work with business data or take an action on a user’s behalf. That could make AI tools more useful across everyday tasks, while raising questions about how they access private information.
One plug-in standard across Microsoft’s copilots
The framework is intended to help developers build plug-ins that work across several Microsoft products as well as ChatGPT. Developers can use tools including Visual Studio, Codespaces and Visual Studio Code to create plug-ins that retrieve real-time information or connect an AI assistant to company data.
Examples range from a Microsoft 365 Copilot arranging travel according to a company’s policy to querying WolframAlpha to solve an equation. A plug-in could also help answer questions about how a firm handled legal issues in the past, using information that may not be public.
Microsoft said customers in the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program would get partner plug-ins in the coming weeks. The named partners include Atlassian, Adobe, ServiceNow, Thomson Reuters, Moveworks and Mural.
Bing Chat was also set to receive additional plug-ins from Instacart, Kayak, Klarna, Redfin and Zillow, with those same Bing Chat plug-ins coming to Windows through Windows Copilot. The OpenTable plug-in can search restaurants for available bookings. Instacart’s can turn a dinner menu into a shopping list and place an order for delivery.
Connecting AI to information while setting boundaries
Microsoft describes a plug-in as a bridge between an AI system and third-party data that its owner wants to keep private or proprietary. Rather than making that information generally available, a plug-in can give an AI assistant access for a particular purpose, such as answering a question about company records.
The distinction matters because companies are concerned that generative AI tools could expose sensitive information. The article reports that Apple and Samsung had banned employees from using ChatGPT and similar tools over worries that confidential data might be mishandled or leaked into those systems.
Microsoft’s framework includes three plug-in types: ChatGPT plug-ins, Microsoft Teams message extensions and Power Platform connectors. Teams message extensions let users interact with web services through buttons and forms in Teams. Power Platform connectors wrap APIs so services can work with apps in Microsoft’s Power Platform portfolio, including Power Automate.
Microsoft is extending the use of message extensions and connectors so they can also support Microsoft 365 Copilot across products such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. For example, connectors can bring structured data into Dataverse, Microsoft’s service for storing and managing information used by internal business apps, where Microsoft 365 Copilot can access it.
Tools for building, testing and distributing plug-ins
At Build, Microsoft demonstrated Dentsu using Microsoft 365 Copilot alongside a Jira plug-in and data from Atlassian’s Confluence, without writing new code. The example showed how an existing business service and company information could be combined in a Copilot workflow.
Developers will have several routes to create and debug plug-ins. Microsoft’s Azure AI family is adding ways to run and test them using private enterprise data. Azure OpenAI Service will support plug-ins, and Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio is also gaining features for piloting them.
Microsoft says developers will be able to configure, publish and manage plug-ins through the Developer Portal for Teams and other locations. The company also says developers will be able to monetize plug-ins, though it did not explain how pricing would work.
A broader role for AI assistants
With plug-ins, Microsoft is positioning its copilots as gateways to other software and services. An assistant that can draw on business systems or complete tasks through a connected service could become a central place for customers to get work done.
That approach also gives Microsoft a way to build its AI platform and compete with companies including Google and Anthropic. The article suggests that plug-ins could eventually provide a revenue opportunity as more apps and services use generative AI, and could address some concerns from businesses about using their data.
Microsoft is building on a standard associated with OpenAI, and the article expects competitors to develop plug-in frameworks of their own. Whether the model spreads will depend in part on how developers and customers use these connections, and on how well the systems manage access to private data.