Microsoft Corp. is opening up its artificial intelligence assistant to consumers and making the corporate version available to smaller companies as it tries to increase the number of paying customers for the\u00a0new services.<\/p>\n
Microsoft is selling a consumer version of Copilot for $20 (R376) per month, with access to OpenAI\u2019s latest ChatGPT technology and image-creation features, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Consumers with a cloud subscription to Office will be able to use Copilot to help answer questions, summarise data and create content in Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint.<\/p>\n
The company, which has been selling a similar product to large businesses for a monthly fee of $30 per\u00a0user, will get rid of the 300-subscription minimum for its enterprise service.<\/p>\n
As Microsoft\u00a0has revamped nearly all of its products around artificial intelligence tools based on technology from OpenAI,\u00a0its\u00a0Office products remain one of the\u00a0best ways to get customers to pay extra for AI assistance.<\/p>\n
Executives have said demand is unusually high, with Azure chief Scott Guthrie likening it to the lines outside shops to purchase Windows 95 software nearly three decades ago.<\/p>\n
Microsoft has been testing the Office-based copilot, now called Copilot for Microsoft 365, since March. The company began\u00a0selling<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>it widely in November, as long as companies purchased at least 300 subscriptions.<\/p>\n That left out small businesses and those that wanted to begin with a smaller trial, said Jared Spataro, a Microsoft vice president, in an interview.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have just never seen demand in the commercial space for a product like we are seeing for Copilot from Microsoft 365,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have had pressure I have never seen from small and medium businesses saying \u2018why will you not let us buy this? Let us try it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Microsoft announced the new services ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos where Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella will speak in an interview with Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Microsoft\u2019s consumer service, called Copilot Pro, offers similar features\u00a0to OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT Plus at the same price, though the integration with Office differentiates their product, Spataro said.<\/p>\n