Microsoft has unveiled the next wave of its AI assistant, Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing together web, work, and pages as a new design system for knowledge work. The key announcements from the Copilot Wave 2 event include:

Copilot Pages: A New Digital Artifact for AI Collaboration

• It provides a dynamic, persistent canvas for "multiplayer AI collaboration"

• Users can pull information from work data and the web into editable documents

• Pages can be shared with colleagues via links for collaborative editing

• This feature aims to make AI-assisted research and teamwork more seamless

Integrating Copilot into Microsoft 365 Apps

Excel

• Copilot in Excel is now generally available

• New Python integration allows advanced data analysis using natural language prompts

• Improved support for formulas, data visualization, and conditional formatting

PowerPoint

• Narrative Builder feature can create presentation drafts quickly

• Ability to incorporate images from corporate directories and adhere to branding guidelines

Teams

• Can now synthesize both meeting content and chat messages for comprehensive summaries

Outlook

• New "Prioritize my inbox" feature analyzes and flags important emails

• Provides summaries of prioritized emails and reasons for their importance

OneDrive

• Enables file comparison and analysis

Introducing Copilot Agents: AI Assistants for Automation

• Copilot agents are virtual AI assistants that can automate tasks and processes with little human intervention.

• Agents can be created and published to various channels using Microsoft Copilot Studio.

• The new Copilot Studio experience allows users to create agents directly within SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat.

Other Improvements

• Copilot is now powered by OpenAI's latest GPT-4o model

• Microsoft has made over 700 product updates and added 150 new features to Copilot

• Response times are reportedly twice as fast, with satisfaction improving threefold

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called these updates the "UI for AI," emphasizing their potential to transform how work gets done for over 400 million Microsoft 365 users. With over 700 product updates and 150 new features, Microsoft 365 Copilot is rapidly becoming an organizing layer for work, improving performance and response satisfaction.