Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is less a single product than an AI layer spread across everything Microsoft makes. The free version, available on the web, in Windows, and on mobile, is a capable general assistant that can chat, search the web, and generate images. It runs on strong models and costs nothing, which makes it a reasonable default for anyone who already spends their day in Windows and Edge.

The real value shows up inside Microsoft 365. With the paid tiers, Copilot can draft a document in Word from your notes, summarize a long Outlook thread, build a PowerPoint deck from a Word file, and, in the business version, pull context from your emails, files, and Teams chats. Teams meeting recaps are the standout feature: action items, decisions, and who said what, delivered minutes after a call ends. For organizations already on Microsoft 365, this deep integration is something ChatGPT and Claude simply cannot match without extra setup.

The downsides are cost and consistency. The business version adds $30 per user per month on top of existing licenses, which adds up quickly across a team, and some features, particularly in Excel and PowerPoint, are noticeably weaker than the Word and Outlook experience. The branding is also confusing, with several different products called Copilot. As a standalone assistant, ChatGPT and Claude are still more flexible. But if your work lives in Outlook, Teams, and Word, Copilot is the AI tool that fits into it with the least friction.