Generative AI is coming to Word, Excel, and Outlook: here’s how it will change for you
Are you sensitive to PowerPoint design or reading Excel tables? The chatbot will take care of it for you. Embodied by ChatGPT for a year, the generative AI technology, in particular, is making its first steps into the world’s most widely used software suite, both in the office and on your home computer as well.
Microsoft 365 Copilot was introduced last March and has been available since Wednesday, November 1, in France. It integrates AI functions to create text and images in Word, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook. The logical step after integrating into Bing and above all the easiest step to bring this disruptive innovation into the business world.
“Microsoft has a wise strategy by integrating ChatGPT technology into all of its products, and the user will change their habits while continuing to use the software they have mastered,” says Stefan Ruder, CEO of Al Builders, an AI consulting firm for CAC 40 companies. Priced at €30 per month per user plus a premium subscription to Microsoft 365, the program will first target larger enterprises, before spreading downwards, if it proves effective.
“Real impact on time-consuming and tedious tasks”
The performance promises of this personal assistant are tempting. “There will be the possibility of asking questions in a natural way on documents and finding precise answers in data spread throughout the company,” confirms Nicolas Godimet, CEO responsible for artificial intelligence at Onepoint.
In Word, Copilot can type text, edit it, summarize it more concisely, or even create a draft himself. While inserting an illustration or drawing. In Excel, a generative AI tool digs into table tiles to create graphs based on the underlying data. PowerPoint presentations are enriched with custom slides containing the font and company logo, as well as your writing style and more or less visuals. It’s like giving instructions to a chatbot that draws inspiration from your archives and spreadsheets to create personalized content without friction.
“There will be a real impact on time-consuming and arduous tasks, such as meeting minutes, summarizing documents and contracts, or creating standard email,” he concludes. “In the request or ‘prompt’, Copilot’s AI will, for example, summarize the last five emails exchanged with the customer, and this will save time and efficiency, because it will carry out tasks that we have not done or no longer do because of it,” adds Stefan. Rudder: “Lack of time.”
A lighter version is expected on Windows 11
In addition to the potential problems of protecting confidential data, not everything will be perfect at first. “He gives a first draft or creates a PowerPoint file with it Slides Pretty standard as a tool can do,” highlight the two experts. “It is clear that this will not eliminate jobs immediately, but will help to focus on tasks with higher added value,” sums up Nicolas Godime.
Since this digital assistance is expensive in terms of computing power on servers, it will not be immediately available to the general public. Meanwhile, a lighter version of Copilot’s AI should soon arrive in France on Windows 11.
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