What Microsoft Copilot Can Do and How It Can Be Useful in Everyday Life

In the world of neural network technologies, the emergence Microsoft Copilot was, if not a significant breakthrough, then at least a natural stage in the development of artificial intelligence. The AI ​​assistant, integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem, offers unprecedented opportunities for optimizing work processes and increasing productivity, which many similar ones lack. In this article, we will consider the key aspects of Copilot, its functional features and practical use cases.

How Microsoft Copilot Works: Architecture and Technical Base

Current version of Microsoft Copilot is based on the advanced language models ChatGPT-4 and ChatGPT-4o, and also uses the generative neural network DALL-E 3, which is responsible for creating images. This combination provides high performance in a wide range of tasks:

• Natural Language Processing (NLP)

• Content generation

• Data Analysis

• Visual synthesis

This versatility allows Copilot to offer a variety of features relevant to IT professionals and developers, including text generation, image drawing, and, more complex, coding and debugging.

What Copilot Can Do

Like any other neural network, you can easily ask Copilot find and fix the error in the code.

Copilot realized that this implementation is inefficient for large numbers due to recursion, and not only came up with an optimized solution, but also gave an explanation that would be understandable even to a person who is frankly far from coding:

Code analysis and refactoring – another type of task that Copilot can handle in no time. Let's say you, as a developer, have the following Python codewhich needs optimization:

You can ask Copilot analyze a complex section of code and suggest options for its optimization or refactoring:

This example also demonstrates, How Copilot Can Optimize Code and provide detailed explanations and comments, improving its understanding and facilitating future support.

Copilot is also capable of automatically create documentation for your code, including comments and README fileswhich significantly speeds up the development process. Let's look at an example of how it can help with documentation generation:

Let's ask Copilot to generate documentation for this DataProcessor class, including docstrings for the methods and a README file describing how to use the class.

This is what he came up with:

Here is an example README file for this class:

Effective Using Copilot in IT Environment requires an understanding of its strengths and limitations. The key to successful work with an assistant is a clear formulation of requests. When addressing him, do not use colloquial phrases. Focus on specific technical terms and descriptions of the desired result.

When you need to generate or analyze and correct a large piece of code, an iterative approach will help. It consists of starting with a basic request, and then consistently refining and adjusting the task, based on the assistant's intermediate answers. This is especially effective when solving complex problems that require a step-by-step approach.

Copilot Integration with Windows

Copilot is available on various platforms in different formats:

• Copilot website (copilot.microsoft.com)

• Windows 11 Sidebar

• Bing Search Engine and Bing Mobile App

• Microsoft Edge Browser

• Mobile applications for Android and iOS

• Microsoft 365 Apps (for paid subscribers)

Each platform offers unique features. For example, Copilot website supports plugins like OpenTable for restaurant reservations. On Windows, Copilot lets you manage system settings and open apps. The Edge browser provides dedicated buttons for text interactions and image creation. And mobile apps let you choose between language models.

For users from Russia access to Copilot limited, but there are ways to get around these limitations. If you are using the web version and do not need to conduct long dialogues, it will be enough to use foreign IP address. But if the task involves a large number of clarifications and the use of the full range of features, including saving the history of messages, you will need to register an American or European Microsoft account.

Useful functions of the Copilot neural network in Windows

But the native one is especially valuable Copilot integration with Windows. Unlike ChatGPT, which is a standalone app, Microsoft's assistant is quite deeply embedded in the company's operating system and is well acquainted with its functionality. In addition to basic features like changing the design theme, users can request many other system operations. However, some of them require a paid Copilot Pro subscription.

Here is a list of the main integrations with examples of capabilities:

Microsoft 365 (Office 365)

• Word: Helps you write texts, suggests ideas for content, automatically formats documents.

• Excel: Analyzes data, creates formulas, generates graphs and charts based on verbal queries.

• PowerPoint: Creates presentations on a given topic, suggests slide designs, helps structure information.

• Outlook: Composes and edits emails, helps with scheduling meetings, and analyzes incoming correspondence.

Windows 11

• Manages system settings (for example, changes the theme, configures security settings).

• Helps you find files and applications.

• Optimizes system performance according to user request.

Microsoft Edge

• Retells the content of web pages.

• Helps in composing queries to search for information.

• Suggests alternative wording for text content on websites.

Microsoft Teams

• Creates short meeting summaries.

• Offers ideas and questions during discussions.

• Assists in planning and organizing teamwork.

Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code

• Generates code based on the functionality description.

• Explains complex sections of code.

• Offers optimizations and bug fixes.

Dynamics 365 (ERP)

• Analyzes customer data and suggests sales strategies.

• Helps create personalized marketing campaigns.

• Automates the creation of reports and forecasts.

Power Platform

• Power BI: Helps you create and interpret complex data visualizations.

• Power Apps: Speeds up app development with ready-to-use templates and components.

• Power Automate: Helps you create complex workflows and automations.

GitHub

• Analyzes code and suggests improvements.

• Assists in writing project documentation.

• Assists in resolving issues and pull requests.

Azure

Copilot and contextual understanding

Copilot is adapted to the specific tasks of each service and is immersed in the context of use, which allows to significantly increase its productivity and the quality of the work performed. It will not only execute commands, but also provide a step-by-step description of its actions. Thus, the user will not remain in the dark while Copilot is doing something there.

By understanding the context, Copilot can adapt its actions based on the current state of the system. For example, if the user asks to change the screen resolution, the assistant will first check the current settings and available options before suggesting specific changes.

At all, understanding the context Copilot gives you a lot. Unlike practically useless assistants like Siri, it can perform complex sequences of actions. Ask Copilot to perform a series of related tasks, such as cleaning the system disk, updating drivers and optimizing system performance, and it will do everything in the best possible way. The assistant will break the request into individual steps and perform them sequentially, providing a report on the work done along the way.

Features of using Copilot: what you need to know

Despite all the objective advantages of Copilot, it has a number of, if not disadvantages, then at least features that make it a little more difficult to master.

• First, to get the best results, it's important to formulate your queries clearly and specifically, avoiding colloquial phrases. For example, instead of “Write code,” it's better to use “Write a Python function to sort a list of numbers in descending order.”

• Second, most often the best results are achieved by successively refining and adjusting queries.

• Third, Copilot may not be ideal as a standalone assistant. It works best when paired with other data science and development tools.

Remember how just recently we used Copilot as a PC building tool. He was supposed to tell us which components to use, but the assistant made a very serious mistake. This happened for several reasons, but the most important one was a misunderstanding of its capabilities and the inability to correctly formulate the request.

Is Copilot Worth Using?

Undoubtedly, Microsoft Copilot is a powerful tool that can significantly improve the efficiency of not only IT specialists and developers, but also ordinary users, from schoolchildren and students to data analysts and accountants. However, like any artificial intelligence tool, it requires proper use and constant improvement of skills in working with it.

Integrating Copilot into your workflows can be a key factor in increasing competitiveness in the rapidly changing world of technology. It is important to remember that Copilot is a support tool, not a replacement for human intelligence and skills. To use it effectively, you must have a sufficient degree of expertise yourself, checking its answers for inaccuracies and errors.

However, even in its current form, Copilot opens up new horizons in the field software developmentdata analysis and IT infrastructure management. Moreover, the greatest benefit from this tool will be received by those specialists who learn to effectively formulate requests, critically evaluate the results and will be able to see in it not a competitor for jobs, but a personal assistant capable of facilitating everyday tasks.