Microsoft's new 'Team Copilot': 7 things this new AI co-worker can do

Announced at Microsoft Build 2024, Team Copilot can lurk inside your Microsoft Teams calls and chats, after being given access by a host, of course, to meet your needs — and your colleagues' needs, too.

Recently, there has been a flurry of announcements from the biggest names in AI, including OpenAI with GPT-4o and Google I/O with a host of new updates. Among those new revelations, Team Copilot sounds quite similar to Google's AI Teammate — more on that later.

What is Team Copilot?

Copilot is Microsoft's answer to AI personal assistants like Google Gemini.

Team Copilot is a new development from Microsoft's AI ambitions. Credit: Microsoft

However, Microsoft is kicking things up a notch for companies and their employees with Team Copilot. What, exactly, is Team Copilot? It is a "meeting facilitator," as Microsoft puts it, that one can drop into Microsoft Teams meetings and chats. It can do seven key things:

1. Summarize Microsoft Teams meetings

Team Copilot can drop in and take notes. Credit: Microsoft

A host can invite Team Copilot to come in and summarize Microsoft Teams meetings. It can take notes during the discussion. Plus, anyone can edit Team Copilot's outline, allowing your co-workers to add or remove its notes at will.

2. Construct follow-up tasks and actions

Team Copilot suggesting a follow-up task in a Microsoft Teams meeting. Credit: Microsoft

Based on the Microsoft Teams discussion, Team Copilot can suggest post-discussion activities, such as follow-up tasks, to ensure that everyone continues to be on the same page. For example, Team Copilot can recommend setting up a follow-up meeting with a co-worker.

3. Track time to keep meetings structured

Team Copilot asking to set a time limit for each topic on the agenda. Credit: Microsoft

It's easy to lose track of time and spend too much time on a topic. Team Copilot, as a meeting facilitator, can make sure that the meeting maintains a structured time for each subject on the agenda.

4. Be a group moderator in chats

Team Copilot can step in as a moderator in a chat. Credit: Microsoft

In Microsoft Teams' chats, Team Copilot can drop in and interact with team members to help meet their goals. It can also provide highlights from the chat, search the web on users' behalf, answer questions about the discussion, and more.

5. Respond to questions based on shared docs

Team Copilot helping a user with a question based on a shared file. Credit: Microsoft

In the example Microsoft gave in Build 2024, it appears that users are able to ask Team Copilot questions in a chat based on shared files. It will sift through those shared documents and provide an answer for the requester.

6. Act as a project manager in 'Planner'

One can make Team Copilot a project manager, allowing it to assign tasks and goals to team members. Credit: Microsoft

Team Copilot can also act as a project manager in Planner. Not only can it create tasks and goals for co-workers, but it can also assign them to team members.

7. Offer advice to move tasks along

Users can ask Team Copilot for advice. Credit: Microsoft

And of course, Team Copilot can serve as a source of counsel for users. In the example above, a Microsoft Teams user asks Team Copilot to read their draft and suggest a new one with comments.

Final thoughts

Interestingly, Microsoft isn't the only one to release an "AI co-worker" assistant this month. At Google I/O, the search-engine giant revealed "AI Teammate." Similar to Team Copilot, AI Teammate can answer questions based on discussions within a group chat.

Team Copilot is only for Microsoft 365 users and will come to preview later this year.

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