Microsoft Corp. today launched a new version of Copilot, the artificial intelligence assistant included in its Microsoft 365 productivity suite.

The biggest addition to the tool is an interface section called Code. It enables nontechnical workers to create simple apps using prompts. For example, a business analyst could create a dashboard that tracks store sales. A Copilot app can take the form of a desktop widget or a cloud service.

Hosting an AI-generated program in the cloud enables workers to share it with colleagues. Microsoft says that a new service, Copilot Managed Runtime, minimizes the amount of technical work involved in the task. It deploys  Copilot-generated apps in a cloud environment that doesn’t require manual configuration or maintenance.

Copilot Managed Runtime comes with a software development kit, or SDK, and a command line tool. Engineers can use them to refine Copilot apps created by nontechnical colleagues. For example, a developer could build an integration that links an AI-generated app to an external service.

“Teams can preview and improve a new version while the current version remains available to users,” David Blyth, the vice president and general manager of Microsoft’s managed apps and agents group, wrote in a blog post. “Identity and policy are enforced through the host. Monitoring, usage and inventory give your organization visibility into what’s been built, how apps are being used and app health.”

The new Copilot release’s Code interface section is available through a revamped homepage. The homepage also offers access to a second mode, Chat, that is designed for nontechnical work. It’s powered by an integration with Office.

Workers can ask Chat to create a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file by describing what it should include. The tool also lends itself to editing existing documents. It displays the document being edited directly in the Copilot interface, which gives users the option to make manual changes.

Copilot’s third new interface section is called Autopilot. It enables workers to create AI agents without writing code. According to Microsoft, AI agents can be configured to automate recurring tasks or perform actions in response to specific business events. They can also tackle complex, multistep work without the need for highly detailed prompts.

Copilot customizes its output based on business information in a company’s applications. It collects the data using Microsoft IQ, a service that is being enhanced as part of today’s update. Microsoft IQ can now draw on information that users keep in Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. Dynamics 365 stores customer records, while Power Platform is a product suite that spans use cases such as data visualization and task automation.

Microsoft plans to roll out several additional enhancements to Copilot in the near future. The first, Today, is an interface section that will display the user’s most important outstanding tasks and complete some of them automatically. Microsoft is also working on a feature that will remove the need for workers to switch manually between Copilot’s Chat and Code modes.

Image: Microsoft