Exploring AI Tools: What’s with ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot

Although subtly existing in bits of references since it was first coined in 1956, artificial intelligence (AI) became more prominent in 2023 with the development of AI-powered tools and software intended to assist users in performing tasks in less time than would have been normally required and more efficiently. Generative AI tools are essentially created to amplify human abilities, drive innovations, and enhance individual and organizational productivity.

While there are a handful of generative AI models available and accessible for myriad of uses, two of the most popular models leading this technological revolution are ‘ChatGPT’ and ‘Microsoft Copilot’ given their aptitude to receive and process human prompts and generate applicable near-human responses with the assistance of advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques (Kanerika, 2024). Meanwhile, ongoing conversations have been around comparisons between ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. So, let’s get on to exploring the distinctiveness and similarities between these two and helping you identify which of them appropriately suits your needs.

ChatGPT

Famed as being the pioneering GenAI tool, ChatGPT stands out for its ability to respond to natural language prompts. It is a generative natural language processing technology that incorporates machine learning, deep learning, natural language understanding, and natural language generation to process human prompts and deliver responses, often in a conversational manner (Microsoft, 2024).

Launched in November 2022 by OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research and development company, ChatGPT is built on OpenAI’s exclusive GPT framework (Mohammed, 2024). The generative AI model operates as a chatbot designed to receive human prompts which it processes using machine learning algorithms and thereafter delivers appropriate responses. In generating its answers, it follows the process of predicting the next word in a given sequence based on patterns from the human language with which it has been trained.

The GPT in ChatGPT is an acronym for ‘generative pre-trained transformer’. This implies that the AI tool has been trained on a vast amount of human languages, website contents, and text data, it is available as an Application Programming Interface (API), and is accessed through a web-based chatbot. The bot has also, over the years, proven a viable communication tool capable of responding in different languages.

Features of ChatGPT

ChatGPT is available in three different versions: Free ChatGPT, ChatGPT Plus, and ChatGPT Enterprise.

• Free ChatGPT is designed for testing and research purposes. It processes users’ prompts to generate contents such as essays, letters, codes, among others.

• ChatGPT Plus, the premium subscription plan offers access to the latest GPT version and additional features like recommended prompts and responses, and, code interpretation, in faster response times.

• ChatGPT Team offers the features in ChatGPT Plus. It however has a higher message limit to GPT models and tools like DALL-E. It allows users create and share GPTs within an organization, provides an admin console for managing the workspace and prevents team data from training the models by default.

• ChatGPT Enterprise offers all the features of ChatGPT Plus and some bonus extras for business users like an administrative console for secure deployments and unlimited data analysis through the Code Interpreter tool.

Furthermore, ChatGPT also integrates DALL-E for paid users. It allows them to generate images directly within the ChatGPT interface based on text prompts. ChatGPT also receives request and delivers responses in AI-generated audio format.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot passes for being a more comprehensive and robust AI tool, earning itself the appellation, ‘your Copilot for work’. Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered digital assistant developed to provide personalized assistance to users for efficient, creative and productive performances. Sharing a similarity with ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot is also accessed through message prompts, it however employs the Microsoft Graph and people-centric data to provide responses that are appropriate to the user’s needs.

Microsoft Copilot was launched as Bing Chat on Feb. 7, 2023, by Microsoft as an add-in for Bing and Microsoft’s Edge browser using resources from its parent company, technology from OpenAI’s GPT-4, and large language models (LLMs). It is embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Sharepoint, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, among others  (Mohammed, 2024).

Copilot can enhance the decision-making process through data analytics, financial analysis, market research and project planning. It can suggest the next step in a process based on context and past experience, reducing workload and inefficiency. It enables personalization by learning and adapting to the user’s writing style and preferences over time, providing increasingly relevant and personalized suggestions. It can also tailor contents to specific audiences and purposes.

Features of Microsoft Copilot

The functionality of this AI model is accessed within the Microsoft suite. In Word, it can help with content creation; in Outlook, it can assist with organizing emails; in PowerPoint, it can help create presentations; in Excel, it can transform data into visual formats; and in Teams, it can summarize meetings and provide relevant information (Mohammed, 2024).  Copilot boasts of multi-modal capabilities; it can understand and process different forms of information beyond just texts, such as leveraging the power of DALL-E 3, an advanced image generation model. This allows users to provide text prompts and get high-quality, relevant images (Kanerika, 2024).

Microsoft Copilot is available as an add-on to existing Microsoft 365 packages at an additional cost. Meanwhile, users of specific packages like Business Premium or Business Standard can also access Microsoft Copilot at no extra cost.

Differences between ChatGPT and Copilot

Great generative AI tools in their respective rights, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot share a similarity in that they both use natural language processing to allow users to interact with them, they however differ in certain regards.

• Functionality: ChatGPT essentially functions as a chatbot and is capable of delivering content in different languages. Copilot, on the other hand, functions primarily as a personalized productivity assistance operating within the Microsoft ecosystem.

• Configuration: While ChatGPT can be embedded into a variety of third-party apps, Copilot will have to be configured by users.

• Privacy: ChatGPT saves users’ chat history, which although may be good for making references to previous conversations, exposes the data to other searches leading to an invasion of privacy. Microsoft Copilot does not save chat history nor have access to users’ chats, a feature only peculiar to Copilot 365, a more expensive version of Copilot, which integrates generative AI throughout the office suite (Mendo, 2024). Copilot also does not use users’ chats to train AI models thereby enhancing privacy and security.

• Data Security: ChatGPT was developed by a cybersecurity-conscious company, OpenAI. The tool continually undergoes security checks to ensure data protection. However, data security may be breached when ChatGPT is used with other third-party apps. Microsoft is a preferable choice in respect of data security because of its adherence to both the ‘Responsible AI Principles’ and ‘Responsible AI Standard’.  Copilot users can also access their data through the Microsoft Graph, which in itself is a secure platform, and they can further manage access to the tool by ensuring that their use is well-regulated (Cooper, 2023). 

Conclusion

ChatGPT and Copilot are proof of the potentials inherent in artificial technology and they open up their users to endless possibilities, accounting for over 40% of efficient productivity. Choosing between the two essentially depends on users’ needs and workflow preferences.

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References

Cooper, S. (2023). Microsoft Copilot vs. ChatGPT: Which is The Top AI Tool? https://www.changingsocial.com/blog/microsoft-copilot-vs-chatgpt/

Jenkins, B. (2024). Microsoft Copilot Vs. ChatGPT: What’s the Difference? https://redriver.com/artificial-intelligence/microsoft-copilot-vs-chatgpt-whats-the-difference#:~:text=When%20comparing%20Microsoft%20Copilot%20vs,generate%20responses%20to%20users%20prompts.

Kanerika (2024). Microsoft Copilot vs ChatGPT: Choosing the Right AI Titan https://kanerika.com/blogs/microsoft-copilot-vs-chatgpt/

Mendo (2024). Everything you need to know about Microsoft Copilot and its features https://mendo.cloud/en/blog/all-about-microsoft-copilot-and-its-features

Microage (2023). Beyond ChatGPT: How Microsoft’s AI Tool ‘Copilot’ is Reshaping the Future of Business                                                     https://microage.com/blog/beyond-chatgpt-how-microsofts-ai-tool-copilot-is-reshaping-the-future-of-business/

Microsoft (2024). ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot: What’s the difference? https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/topic/chatgpt-vs-microsoft-copilot-what-s-the-difference-8fdec864-72b1-46e1-afcb-8c12280d712f

Mohammed, A.H. (2024). ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot: What’s the Difference? https://medium.com/@Mr.AliH.Muhammad/comparing-chatgpt-and-microsoft-copilot-differences-and-features-74dcff2cd7fa

Patrizio, A. (2024). Microsoft Copilot https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/Microsoft-Copilot

Sas (2024). Artificial Intelligence: What It is and Why It Matters https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/analytics/what-is-artificial-intelligence.html

Tuisk, J. (2024). Review: Copilot for Microsoft 365 vs ChatGPT Teams https://www.productory.eu/article/review-copilot-for-microsoft-365-vs-chatgpt-teams