Microsoft Copilot Gets Personal

Microsoft recently announced that Copilot and Microsoft Designer are now available in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans. Copilot will be available to the subscription owner only and cannot be shared with others. Let’s take a look…

About the Tools

• Microsoft Copilot – is designed to assist users by integrating artificial intelligence capabilities into their daily tasks, potentially offering enhancements to productivity applications like Word, Excel, or Outlook.

  • Copilot in Word – Need help with meal preparation for the week? Just enter your dietary preferences and servings, and Copilot will create a polished recipe ready for your kitchen.
  • Copilot in Excel – Looking to update your household budget for the new year? Ask Copilot to analyse your current budget spreadsheet, offer ideas, and set you off to a great start in 2025.
  • Copilot in PowerPoint – Trying to string together a slideshow of your winter vacation to share with your family and friends? Watch Coplot generate the narrative flow, slides, and design, then just add your favourite photos.
  • Copilot in Outlook – Facing an email backlog from over the holidays? Copilot can summarise lengthy email threads so you can get on with your day.

• Microsoft Designer – is intended for graphic design, which could help users easily create visually appealing documents, presentations, and other content.
  • Did you capture some holiday memories along with a few holiday distractions? Simply open Designer and upload your photo to edit with AI. You can easily select unwanted objects and watch Designer use AI to remove them from the photo.
  • Capturing your favourite recipes in a recipe book and need to bring them to life? Describe your dish and Copilot in Word will use Designer to create a unique image that complements your recipe.

By including these tools in the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans, Microsoft is providing these advanced features to a broader range of users, enhancing the value of its subscriptions by offering more sophisticated tools for personal and household use.

Copilot Chat – for Personal, Family & Education

Also included in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans as well as for Education users with Microsoft 365 A1, A3, and A5 licenses, as well as Office 365 A1, A3, and A5 licenses. This means that if you are an Education institution with any of these licenses, you can also access Copilot Chat without extra charges.

Copilot Chat is a feature within Microsoft 365 that leverages AI to enhance productivity and collaboration. Some key aspects include: AI-Powered Chat, File Integration, Collaboration, Agents and IT Controls. It is designed to make everyday work smarter, faster, and more collaborative. For more information, review Microsoft’s blog – Copilot for all: Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.

It’s not Unlimited – AI Credits

Microsoft stated that M365 Personal and Family subscribers will receive a monthly allotment of AI credits to use Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. The credits can also be used for AI image generation and editing in Designer and in other AI-powered apps like Paint, Photos, and Notepad on a device running Windows.

They feel the monthly allotment should be enough for most subscribers, but of course offer an upgrade plan to Copilot Pro, without worrying about usage limits. Learn more about AI credits.

This is Personal, not Business

It is important to note that this update only applies to consumer subscription plans and not to M365 Business plans. To access Copilot for your Business an additional license is required.

Which Copilot plan is right for you?

While the number of Copilots in existence is in the double figures, with more in the pipeline, there are four main Copilot plans: standard Copilot, Copilot Pro, Copilot for Microsoft 365, and Copilot Studio.

How Can Diamond IT Help with Copilot for your Business?

At Diamond IT, we understand that embracing AI is not just about implementing technology; it’s about transforming your business to thrive in the digital era. Our deep expertise as a Microsoft Partner ensures that we not only provide the tools but also the strategic guidance and support needed for your success.

Diamond IT’s Business Technology Managers and Business Technology Consulting teams can work with you to analyse and review the current state of your Microsoft environment and provide recommendations on your permissions structure and content management practices.

Areas that we can support you on your AI adoption journey include:

• Privacy Impact Assessments – helping you to understand how this information enters, moves around and potentially exits your organisation.
• Permissions and Privilege Management – helping you identify/review/establish these to ensure they are architected to support your current and emerging needs.
• Content Management – helping you structure Teams and SharePoint or establish a SharePoint architecture to manage your information repositories.
• Information and Cyber Security – from policies to architecture, risk management to the delivery of business and technical controls – we are a single destination to help with security solutions.
• Copilot Adoption –  we can provide deployment and training programs to ensure your team obtains the best from your financial investment.
• Licensing Structure – we can provide guidance on pre-requisites and the best Copilot license for your organisation, as well as providing your Copilot licensing.

Let us help you secure your operations and ensure a resilient future. Contact us on 1300 307 907 today or fill out the form below.