How to use Microsoft Copilot (formerly known as Bing Chat)
Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT In the fall of 2022, Microsoft became one of the companies biggest investor. Microsoft has leveraged these investments to strengthen its own search engine, Ice, with AI generatedpass it on with a new life search experienceThe company has also developed a competing AI chatbot — Microsoft Copilot — that is accessible as a independent website or through Bing.
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Users can use Microsoft Copilot to ask questions, upload imageand request AI-generated imageslike they can do with ChatGPT. However, Copilot is a bit different from more popular competitorsChatGPT. Here’s how to get the most out of it.
How to use Microsoft Copilot
Visitation Copilot.Microsoft.com (or download) application on your phone). Type your reminders into the text area at the bottom of the screen and send them to Copilot. You can also add a photo to your request or use the microphone function to give voice reminders.
You can ask Copilot an unlimited number of questions per day even without signing in, but you will be limited to responses. For longer conversations and more complex possibilities, you will need to sign in with a Microsoft or Github account. A Microsoft account can be an outlook.com or hotmail.com email address and password, or the login information you use for Microsoft services like Office, OneDrive, or Xbox.
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You can create a Microsoft account using any email address, including Gmail and Yahoo!.
Microsoft Copilot is programmed to provide a more human-like response to a query than a search engine. If you have a personal account, logging in gives you access to three conversational options for how Copilot responds to your queries: creative, balanced, and accurate.
Each of these formats is self-descriptive: choosing “more creative” will give you unique and imaginative responses, while also allowing for visuals; “more balanced” has a similar tone to ChatGPT, a friendly and informative chat with human-like responses; and “more precise” will give short and direct responses.
You can set your language and country preferences by adjusting the settings in the hamburger menu in the upper right corner. Logging in also allows you to upload files along with your query.
Log in to Copilot with your personal account.
Screenshot by Radhika Rajkumar/ZDNET
If you have an account through work or school and choose to log in, you’ll be able to switch between two Copilot modes in the upper left corner: Work and Web.
Work is the Enterprise branch of Copilot, integrated with Microsoft 365 to act as a productivity assistant that can summarize documents, help you prepare for meetings, brainstorm ideas, organize tasks, etc. Work can leverage your company’s internal data and comes with advanced security features to ensure privacy when uploading files.
The Microsoft Copilot bot is a bit different than ChatGPT, ZDNET’s pick for most popular bot AI Chat. While you enter reminders into chats in a similar way, the response format, chat style, and user interface are all different.
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Here are some details to help you get familiar with the new Microsoft Copilot window:
- Text area: At the bottom of the screen there is a text area where you can enter prompts and questions for Copilot.
- More images: Microsoft allows users to upload photos for Copilot to process using AI, just like Google Lens and ChatGPT. Clicking on the photo icon allows you to add an image.
- Microphone: If you want to use your device’s microphone instead of your keyboard to give Copilot prompts, you can click the microphone in the text area to talk to the AI chatbot.
- New topic: When you click New Thread — the chat bubble icon next to the text area with a plus sign — Copilot will clear your current conversation and prompt you to move on to a new one.
- Source: Copilot is an AI-powered conversational search engine, and while it doesn’t give you answers in a list format like a search engine, it does collect most of the responses from the web, thanks to Bing. When you respond to a prompt, Copilot will list any sources and links below the message bubble.
- Suggested follow-up questions: After you get a response from Microsoft Copilot, it will generate suggestions for different follow-up questions that you can use. For example, if you ask Copilot, “What color is the sky?”, it might suggest follow-up questions like, “Are the skies on other planets blue?” or “How does pollution affect the color of the sky?”
- Reminder Counter: When Copilot replies to a query in a chat, you’ll see a number that helps you count how many replies you’ve received. There’s a limit of four replies per thread for non-logged-in users and no limit for logged-in users.
- Like, dislike, copy, export, share and read aloud buttons: As you scan your screen, you’ll see these buttons below each response from Microsoft Copilot.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can Microsoft Copilot do?
Like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot can generate text in a conversational way, essay writing, create letters, Summary of content, write codeAnd answer complex questions. It also has internet access, allowing it to provide up-to-date feedback on current events — something the free version of ChatGPT doesn’t have. until recently.
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The copilot can also use AI to generate images (for signed-in Microsoft users) in a chat window. All you have to do is ask it to create an image and describe what features you want it to have, and it will generate an image instantly. It can also process images you upload in chat to give you information about them, such as identifying the species of plant.
How can I access Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot’s AI chatbot is accessible via Website Copilot.Microsoft.com or Bing. Users need a Microsoft account or Entra ID to sign in or you can use it without signing in and limit responses per topic.
Can you use the new Microsoft Copilot on mobile devices?
The Microsoft Copilot chatbot is still accessible through the Bing mobile app. You can start a conversation on the web and scan a QR code to continue on the mobile app.
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The app provides a direct path to the Copilot chatbot, with the benefit of not having to go through the website when you want to use it, and the ability to add a widget to your phone’s home screen.
Does Microsoft Copilot use ChatGPT?
Copilot does not use ChatGPT because ChatGPT is not an LLM. Instead, Copilot uses models from OpenAI’s GPT-4 architecture to perform its functions. ChatGPT also uses models from that model family; however, it uses the most advanced model – GPT-4o.
Does Microsoft Copilot give wrong answers?
Like ChatGPT and other large language models, the new Copilot is prone to misinformation. Most of the answers Copilot produces are pulled from online sources, and we know that we can’t trust everything we read online.
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Similarly, the Copilot chatbot can generate nonsensical answers that have nothing to do with the original question, also known as hallucinations. It is important to take precautions when conversing with AI chatbots, such as never sharing personal and private information and never relying on them for medical or life-threatening information.
How is Microsoft Copilot different from a search engine?
Compared to search engines, the biggest difference between Copilot and other AI chatbots is the conversational tone when displaying search results, thanks to a large language model (LLM) that works in the background. Intelligently formatting search results into answers to a specific question can make online searching easier.
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In addition to the search capabilities that the standard Bing search engine already has, Copilot is a full-fledged AI chatbot that can do many of the same things tools like ChatGPT can. For example, both Copilot and ChatGPT can generate text, such as essays or poems, write code, or ask complex questions and have a conversation with follow-up questions.
Does Microsoft have an AI image generator?
Microsoft has also launched Bing Image Creator as part of its generative AI tool. Now, Microsoft is using DALL-Ean AI image generator from OpenAI. Accessible within Copilot — users can prompt Copilot to generate an image within an existing chat instead of having to visit a separate website.
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Is Microsoft Copilot free?
The Copilot chatbot is completely free. You can use the Copilot chatbot to ask questions, get help with a problem, or find inspiration.
