Microsoft’s Copilot Embraces the Power of OpenAI’s New GPT-4o

Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant in Windows 11 and Bing, will begin using GPT-4o, the latest OpenAI technology that’s also powering the paid tier of ChatGPT, the company said at its AI Era event in Seattle on Monday. 

This newest version of Copilot will be able to answer questions and generate text with greater precision and accuracy, while also having voice and computer vision support. For example, it can be used to open apps or edit photos. Copilot will also be visible in the Windows 11 taskbar. 

Microsoft’s latest suite of AI integrations comes as Big Tech companies continue jockeying for position in the generative AI race. Last week at Google I/O, the search giant made a host of announcements centered on integrating its AI chatbot Gemini into all things Google. This included everything from AI summarizations in Google search to the ambitious AI agent Project Astra.

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, meanwhile, showed off GPT-4o, an update to its large language model that can handle more data. It demoed a voice-operated AI assistant that conversed in distinctively human ways, with vocal quirks, sarcasm and a flirty disposition. It reminded audiences so much of the movie Her, starring Scarlett Johansson as an AI chatbot, that OpenAI suspended the voice. 

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The stock market has been rewarding companies that are making the biggest impacts in the AI race. Nvidia saw its stock soar last year, briefly joining the trillion-dollar club, given that its tech powers many of the AI engines companies use. Meta, Google and Microsoft have also seen record jumps in their stock price as they invest billions of dollars in AI. Apple may or may note be creating its own commercial AI tech, but has been rumored to be shopping between Google and OpenAI to bring their tech to the iPhone. Whichever company wins over Apple will likely ink a multibillion-dollar deal. 

Along with GPT-4o coming to Copilot, Microsoft also announced that the Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro will join a new line of Copilot Plus PCs. These PCs will have a new feature called Recall that’ll allow you to ask questions about what you did a few days ago. Other features include Live Captions, an image generator called Cocreator and Windows Studio Effects for picture editing. 

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