Microsoft Expands Copilot Tool To More Customers On Tuesday, Microsoft announced Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program, an invitation-only paid preview that will be rolled out to 600 global customers. Earlier, only 20 corporations could access it.

Microsoft 365 Copilot, an artificial intelligence assistant feature by Microsoft for its 365 applications and services, will soon be accessible to more customers, the company made the announcement on Tuesday. As per the announcement, the company is launching Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program, an invitation-only paid preview that will be rolled out to 600 global customers. Earlier, only 20 corporations, including Chevron, Goodyear, General Motors and Dow, could access it.

Additionally, the company is also introducing Semantic Index for Copilot, a new capability for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5. It is a sophisticated map of the user and company data. For example, when you ask it about the "March Sales Report," it doesn't simply look for documents with those words in the file name or body. Instead, it understands that "sales reports are produced by Kelly on the finance team and created in Excel," the official Microsoft release shared.

2023 Annual Work Trend Index

Besides announcing the expansion plans for its Copilito program, the technology giant also unveiled 2023 annual work trend index. The report provides conclusive work trends pertaining to AI. It is based on a survey conducted with 31,000 people across 31 countries, large Microsoft 365 productivity signals and labour trends of LinkedIn Economic Graph.

The report and its analysis highlight an optimistic and positive image of AI at work. Employees are struggling with a large volume of work and data, putting creativity and innovation at risk, and they are eager to join forces with AI to let the technology do all the mundane heavy lifting.

"This new generation of AI will remove the drudgery of work and unleash creativity. There's an enormous opportunity for AI-powered tools to help alleviate digital debt, build AI aptitude, and empower employees," said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft.

The key findings of the report included:

1. Digital debt and struggle with innovation

In recent years, the sheer volume of information and data has outpaced the human capacity to process it all. This is coupled with the intensifying pace and nature of work. 2 out of 3 respondents struggled with having the fundamental time and energy to do their job, and they are 3.5x more likely to struggle with innovative ideas and strategic thinking. 60% of the leaders resonate with it and feel that the lack of breakthrough ideas on their teams is concerning.

Sixty-eight per cent shared they didn't have uninterrupted focus time during their work hours, while 62 per cent shared that they struggled with searching for information during their workday. Based on Microsoft 365 apps data and analytics, an average employee spent 57 per cent of their time just communicating (meetings, email and chat). The heaviest email users and meeting users spent 8.8 and 7.5 hours weekly on emails and in meetings, respectively. On analyzing 'Top 5 Obstacles to Productivity', it was found that the number one productivity disruptor was inefficient meetings.

2. The AI-employee alliance

An unexpected insight which was discovered was that employees were eager to let the AI do most of the heavy lifting. Forty-nine per cent shared they worried about AI taking over their jobs, while 70 per cent shared they would like to delegate as much as possible to AI. And people are comfortable with using technology in various work aspects.

3 in 4 respondents shared that they would be comfortable using AI for administrative tasks (76 per cent), analytical (79 per cent) and creative work (73 per cent). Eighty-six per cent of people looked at AI to find the right information and answers, 80 per cent for summarizing meetings and 77 per cent to plan their day. Data gathered also shows that leaders are more likely to empower their people with AI rather than replace them with it. Respondents were asked how they would reimagine work in 2030, and their answers were AI positive. Thirty-three per cent imagined producing high-quality work in half the time, about 25 per cent hoped to spend their time and energy valuably, while 23 per cent hoped to not be bogged down with unnecessary or irrelevant information again.

3. Employees will need AI aptitude

Human-AI collaboration will be monumental and integral in the coming years. Leaders shared that it was essential their employees learnt when to leverage AI, how to write great prompts, evaluate creative work, and check for bias. Eighty-two per cent of leaders said their employees would need new skills to prepare for AI growth, with 'Analytical judgement,' 'flexibility,' and 'emotional intelligence' topping the list.