Microsoft Copilot: What is it, and how does it work?

AI chatbots have been all the rage this past year. It started with ChatGPT, and Bing Chat immediately followed, becoming one of the most sophisticated chatbots around. That's partly because it's powered by Microsoft Prometheus, which is based on GPT-4. This was developed by OpenAI, which also developed ChatGPT, and for a while, Bing Chat was the only free way to access it. Moreover, it was connected to the internet, so you could use it to help you research.

Bing Chat has since been rebranded as Microsoft Copilot, bringing it in line with the rest of Microsoft's AI assistance products, and it's still one of the best chatbots you can use today. It's even now based on GPT-4 Turbo, which gives better responses with a much larger context window than previously available.

How does Microsoft Copilot work?

It's based on Microsoft Prometheus

Microsoft Copilot was in a unique position when it launched as Bing Chat because it was made possible primarily thanks to OpenAI. At the time, Microsoft touted Bing Chat as being "more powerful" than ChatGPT, though only because it's based on a newer version of that learning language model (LLM). Since then, users can pay for ChatGPT Plus to experience GPT-4 in the same way that you can Microsoft Copilot for free. Prometheus is described as being able to "best leverage" GPT-4's power, though Microsoft doesn't give many details as to how it's implemented. In fact, Copilot is now the only free way to experience GPT-4 Turbo, something you can only do through OpenAI's API otherwise.

Copilot can also access the live internet, even pulling citations for some of the claims that it makes in its responses. That gives it a massive advantage over the free version of ChatGPT, as it allows you to verify the authenticity of the information when you ask a question. You can feed it a URL and ask it to summarize the page or even ask it to look something up for you.

Copilot also has one more feature up its sleeve that still no competitor can contend with, and that's the ability to choose the style of response. You can ask it to reply in a "More Creative," "More Balanced," or "More Precise" tone. These styles help shape your conversation with Copilot and can be chosen based on what you're asking. There are plugins, too, that you can use, and even an Android and iOS app for conversing on the go.

Who made Copilot?

Microsoft launched it over a year ago now

Copilot was developed by Microsoft and announced on Feb. 7, 2023, as Bing Chat. It used to be accessible only via a waiting list, but the company lifted that restriction a while back. All you need is a Microsoft account, and you can use it freely. You can also use it without logging in, but you're limited in responses. Speaking of daily limits...

Is there still a limit on Copilot conversation lengths?

The answer is: it's complicated

Microsoft Copilot still limits how much you can talk to it. You can exchange 30 messages per conversation if you're using Microsoft Edge, and you can exchange 300 total on any given day across multiple chats. These limits are imposed to help prevent abuse or confusion of Copilot's AI, in particular, as it can get a bit weird over a long conversation. Furthermore, Microsoft also limits the prompt to 4,000 characters, which is the context length limitation of GPT-4.

If you're using Google Chrome, Safari, or any other browser, you will be limited to five messages per conversation. This is still enough to enjoy using Copilot, but it's Microsoft's way of enticing you to switch over to Edge if you're a regular Copilot user.

Can Copilot generate images?

Yes, but there's a limit

Unlike other chatbots, Microsoft Copilot can also generate images powered by DALL-E. These images are generated as 1024x1024 JPG images and can be modified and changed once generated. You can generate up to 15 a day if you're using the free version. If you want to generate images, you'll need a Microsoft account to do so, and they'll be watermarked as being made with Copilot.

If you have Copilot Pro, you can generate up to 100 images a day. If you envision yourself needing to generate a lot of images, it might be worth upgrading.

Can I use Microsoft Copilot in Google Chrome or Firefox?

Yes, but you'll be limited

Microsoft Copilot is only officially supported in mobile apps, the Microsoft Edge browser, and other Chrome-based browsers. While technically not supported, you can use it on Firefox, too, despite it not being a Chromium-based browser. However, it might not work completely correctly.

There is a major limitation though when using other browsers, and that's the turn limit. Per conversation, you can only exchange five messages at a time with Copilot, whereas in Edge or in the official applications, you can exchange up to 30 messages at a time.

Is Microsoft Copilot better than Google Gemini or ChatGPT?

It's your own personal opinion

Microsoft Copilot has multiple advantages over both Google Gemini and ChatGPT. For example, the ability to set conversation tones from the simple click of a button is unique to Bing, though you can ask Gemini or ChatGPT to reply to you in more precise or more creative responses instead. Image generation is also mostly unique to Copilot right now, although you can generate images with ChatGPT Plus and Gemini can do it too... though with some limits.

Where Copilot currently flourishes is its ability to provide citations and share real-world examples to questions that you ask it. While it's not perfect, Google Gemini has already struggled with doing exactly that (though it technically can as well), and the free version of ChatGPT can't do it at all. All generative AI models are essentially experimental at this point, but Microsoft's efforts have paid off well here.

Copilot Pro especially being integrated with Microsoft 365 gives a lot of value for money over what you get on other AI subscriptions, bringing the power of generative AI to Excel, your Powerpoints, and more.

The future of Copilot

Microsoft is taking Copilot seriously, and with a rebrand already completed, it's clear that the company intends for it to be more than just an addition to Bing. It probably offers the best generative AI of the free options, though Gemini is pretty close. It can research for you and provide citations, it can change its language style to suit what you want, and it can even generate images. What's more, it's the only way to access GPT-4 Turbo for free still, and GPT-4 Turbo is arguably the best language model currently available.