Microsoft announced the addition of extensions to the Microsoft 365 Copilot service incorporating AI technology
Following the announcement in March this year regarding the introduction of the Microsoft 365 Copilot service, Microsoft has further expanded this service during Build 2023, enhancing it with additional plugin functionality. This enhancement enables the Microsoft 365 Copilot service to support a broader array of applications, while also providing developers with increased opportunities to create application services.
Previously, users could employ the Microsoft 365 Copilot service to generate derivative content for applications such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, by means of automatic text processing. For instance, Word could autonomously generate document content, or PowerPoint could construct appropriate presentation slides. It was even possible to incorporate a richer variety of template styles and animated content.
Concurrently, Word could generate proposals or reports using tabular data, while Excel could further analyse data variations or forecast the impacts of data trends. Moreover, in Outlook, emails could be automatically summarized and users could be assisted with responding to email content. Key points could also be reviewed in the meeting records of Microsoft Teams, or discussion topics could be analyzed.
With OpenAI beginning to incorporate more plugin support in ChatGPT, the Microsoft 365 Copilot service, built upon the extensive GPT-4 language model, has also, not surprisingly, introduced design features that incorporate additional applications through plugins.
As for the plugins used in conjunction with the Microsoft 365 Copilot service, these are broadly categorized into those related to ChatGPT, Microsoft Teams, and the Power Platform. The first wave includes over 50 plugins from companies like Atlassian, Adobe, ServiceNow, Thomson Reuters, Moveworks, and Mural, with the expectation that further plugins will be progressively added over the coming months. Microsoft also plans to provide Teams Toolkit resources, enabling developers to create related Microsoft Teams plugins.
Moreover, the announcement that plugins will be supported in the Microsoft 365 Copilot service signifies that developers will have an increased range of development opportunities in the future. Microsoft has also indicated its intention to establish related development standards in response to their collaboration with OpenAI in promoting the application of ChatGPT technology, and expanding the potential for growth in services like Bing Chat, Dynamics 365 Copilot, Windows Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
