Microsoft Copilot (previously Bing Chat) is Microsoft’s AI assistant, deeply integrated into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Available at copilot.microsoft.com, it’s also embedded in Windows 11, Microsoft Edge, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Rather than one fixed model, Copilot routes each query to a different underlying model depending on the selected mode (Quick Response, Smart, Smart Plus, Think Deeper, and others) — a mix of OpenAI’s GPT-5.x family and Microsoft’s own in-house models, including MAI-Thinking-1, Microsoft’s first dedicated reasoning model.
| Surface | What It Does |
|---|
| copilot.microsoft.com | Web chat with search grounding, image generation |
| Windows 11 | System-level AI assistant (sidebar or taskbar) |
| Microsoft Edge | Browser sidebar, page summarization, compose mode |
| Microsoft 365 | Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams |
| GitHub Copilot | Coding assistant (separate product — see GitHub Copilot) |
| Azure AI Studio | Developer access to Copilot models |
The Microsoft 365 Copilot license enables Copilot inside Office apps:
| App | What Copilot Does |
|---|
| Word | Draft documents, summarize, rewrite |
| Excel | Generate formulas, analyze data, create charts with natural language |
| PowerPoint | Create presentations from prompts, reformat slides |
| Outlook | Summarize long email threads, draft replies |
| Teams | Transcribe and summarize meetings, action items |
| OneNote | Organize notes, summarize pages |
| Feature | Description |
|---|
| Web grounding | All Copilot responses cite live Bing search results |
| Image generation | Create images with GPT Image (via Designer) |
| Notebook | Long-context workspace for large documents |
| Plugins | Connect to Kayak, OpenTable, Instacart, and more |
| Voice | Speak naturally to Copilot |
| Image understanding | Upload images and ask questions |
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|
| Free | $0 | Quick Response mode, Bing grounding, basic image gen |
| Copilot Pro | $20/user/month | Priority access, Copilot in M365 apps, image gen |
| M365 Copilot | $30/user/month | Full Office 365 integration, Teams meeting summaries |
| Enterprise | Custom | Security, compliance, data isolation |
| Feature | Microsoft Copilot | ChatGPT | Claude |
|---|
| Always web-connected | Yes (Bing) | Optional | Optional |
| Office 365 integration | Native | No | No |
| Windows integration | Yes | No | No |
| Image generation | Yes (GPT Image/Designer) | Yes (GPT Image) | No |
| Enterprise compliance | Strong (M365 data boundary) | Enterprise plan | Enterprise plan |
| Underlying model | Mix of GPT-5.x and in-house MAI models | GPT-5.6 (OpenAI) | Claude 5 (Anthropic) |