Microsoft 365 Copilot expands availability through a new early access program

Microsoft’s productivity applications have long been a cornerstone of many people’s everyday workflow. In March, Microsoft revealed that its popular Microsoft 365 applications would be receiving an AI upgrade through the introduction of Microsoft Copilot. 

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Since March, Microsoft has been testing Copilot with 20 enterprise customers. As of Tuesday, Copilot will move from limited testing to a more broad customer base through a Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program.

The Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program will be an invitation-only paid preview that will initially roll out to 600 customers. 

Microsoft also announced some new features in addition to the previously announced AI integrations with Microsoft Business Chat, Outlook, Powerpoint, Word, and Excel.

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The tech giant will begin rolling out a Semantic Index for Copilot, a new capability in Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, which will function as a sophisticated map of user and company data, according to the release. 

OpenAI’s popular image generator, DALL-E, will be available in Powerpoint so that users can ask Copilot to create custom AI- generated images within the platform. 

When creating emails, users will be able to ask for AI-powered suggestions on clarity, sentiment, and tone. 

Lastly, Copilot will also be arriving to OneNote, Loop, Whiteboard, and Viva Learning to assist with idea generation, organization, collaboration, and more.