Microsoft Teams, Excel, Word to get AI features as company announces new subscription plans

Microsoft Teams – Microsoft has announced the launch of Microsoft 365 Copilot, a new subscription service that adds artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to popular Office products such as Word, Excel, and Teams. The service will cost an additional $30 per month, which is estimated to raise monthly pricing for commercial clients by up to 83%. This initiative tries to increase revenue through recurring subscriptions. 

Microsoft Copilot will assist users in utilizing AI functionality such as ranking incoming emails, summarizing meetings, evaluating spreadsheet data, providing writing prompts, and planning presentations. The service is based on generative AI technology and is based on customers’ business data saved in the Microsoft Graph, which includes emails, calendars, chats, and documents. Microsoft promises users that Copilot adheres to their security, privacy, and other preferences. 

Although Microsoft has not specified a timetable for the service’s public launch, it is already being evaluated by 600 enterprise customers, including Goodyear and General Motors. This subscription is part of Microsoft’s continuous attempts to improve its Office software suite and make it more appealing to businesses looking to integrate artificial intelligence into their processes. 

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft 365 Copilot is being introduced at a time when tech titans such as Microsoft, Google, and IBM are striving to provide consumer-driven generative AI tools. Microsoft’s new service intends to give AI-powered capabilities that will help organizations with document summaries, email production, and Excel analysis, among other things. 

The monthly membership rate of $30 per user indicates a considerable increase over current Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Businesses that subscribe to Microsoft 365 E3, for example, will nearly quadruple their prices, while Microsoft 365 Business Standard will nearly triple. 

Microsoft’s significant investment in expanding its AI-powered solutions, including a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, contributes to the higher pricing of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Furthermore, rising demand for Nvidia GPUs to enable AI features has pushed up prices.  

Bing Chat  

Aside from price, Microsoft has also launched Bing Chat Enterprise, an improved version of Bing Chat with commercial data protection. It will be available in preview mode and will be provided at no additional cost in select Microsoft 365 plans.