American multinational tech giant Microsoft announced at the Microsoft Ignite 2023 event the rebranding of Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise to ‘Copilot,’ a move signifying the company’s commitment to unify its artificial intelligence offerings under a single banner. The new name, ‘Copilot in Bing,’ and the premium, corporate-focused version, simply ‘Copilot,’ are part of Microsoft’s broader effort to streamline its AI services and distinguish them from the Bing search engine.
Caitlin Roulston, Microsoft’s Director of Communications, told TechCrunch that this renaming reflects the company’s vision of a unified Copilot experience for both consumer and commercial customers. This change suggests Microsoft’s strategy to distance the AI technology from Bing’s brand, which has struggled to compete with Google in market share.
Starting December 1, Copilot will become generally available with accessibility through Windows 11’s 23H2 update. Those signing in with a Microsoft Entra ID will benefit from commercial data protection, ensuring their data is not saved or used to train AI models. This change will also see Copilot incorporated into various Microsoft 365 enterprise subscription plans without additional costs and will be available as a standalone service for $5 per month.
The company aims to meet the growing AI demands of today’s computing landscape, positioning Copilot as a competitor to ChatGPT and similar platforms. Copilot’s integration into Bing, while not boosting the search engine’s market share significantly, brought innovative features like research assistance and shopping support.
Additionally, Microsoft is enhancing Copilot’s capabilities by supporting OpenAI GPTs, including GPT-4 and DALL-E 3. This advancement brings a unified experience of both models into a single AI assistant, with plans to enable users to create tailored versions of Copilot for specific tasks.
The rebranding to Copilot marks a pivotal moment for Microsoft, showcasing its commitment to advancing AI technology and providing a seamless experience across consumer and commercial platforms. While the Bing brand remains, the focus now shifts to Copilot, underlining Microsoft’s strategy to innovate and compete in the rapidly evolving world of AI.
