The Microsoft 365 Copilot vs. ChatGPT Debate: Our Take on Modern Workplace Solutions

In the technology adoption lifecycle, new products and innovations typically follow a particular pattern. The first people to adopt state-of-the-art technology products are the innovators, followed by early adopters, the early majority, and the late majority. Well, AI and Microsoft Copilot have blown up those stages! 

We’ve reached a point where businesses – and not just the "cool kids" – are jumping on the AI bandwagon. They’ve stopped asking if they should use artificial intelligence and are instead trying to choose the right one. Is it ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 Copilot, or another platform? 

At InsITe, we stay ahead of technological advances so you can discover and evaluate tools that make your job easier. When it comes to AI, we’re ready to help you better understand how to get the most value out of it. With that said, here's what you should consider if you're comparing Microsoft 365 Copilot with ChatGPT for your business.  

Generative AI’s Role in Modern Workplace Solutions 

Successful businesses leave the competition in the dust by solving problems effectively and efficiently. In our modern work environment, industry leaders are using Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT to further widen the gap. If a company doesn’t want to give their competitors a leg up, it’s important to get on board with the AI revolution. 

Artificial intelligence technologies can be highly beneficial in the workplace. When implemented and used correctly, they increase efficiency and enhance productivity. AI platforms help with data analysis, decision-making, content creation, and automation. And repetitive tasks and customer communication can take a fraction of the time with AI. 

Without exaggeration, these AI tools are already revolutionizing the way humans work. Businesses that do not capitalize on them risk becoming akin to a Blockbuster chain in the age of streaming media.  

While there is an array of artificial intelligence platforms capable of performing many tasks to enhance efficiency, two of the most well-known and commonly used are ChatGPT and Copilot.  

Breaking Down Copilot for Microsoft 365 vs. ChatGPT 

To best compare ChatGPT to Microsoft Copilot, we need to look at differences between the respective AI tools. While there are distinctions when it comes to architecture, training methods, and model sizes and configurations, most businesses are more likely to be concerned with those related to use cases and adaptability/customization – and that is where we’ll focus. 

What can Copilot for Microsoft 365 do for a business? 

If you already use M365, there really isn't much competition here. Choose Copilot. 

It seamlessly integrates with all M365 applications. You can use it to suggest improvements, summarize long documents, and generate entire sections to help create polished documents, emails, and presentations. This makes it an excellent tool for written communication in a professional environment. Copilot is also exceptional at organizing notes, managing documents, and pulling in references and data from integrated Microsoft applications to draft reports and papers. 

Between the two, Microsoft Copilot was simply better designed for specific applications. And because it is fine-tuned for targeted tasks, Copilot is highly effective at following custom commands and workflows within your software. 

For businesses looking to use AI for customer support purposes, it’s worth noting that Copilot can work with Microsoft Dynamics 365 to draft emails or recommend responses based on earlier customer cases. This integration can both improve customer service quality and speed up response times. 

If you’d like an even more in-depth look at Copilot, check out this blog post. 

What can ChatGPT do for a business? 

If we think of Microsoft Copilot as a specialist, then ChatGPT is the ultimate generalist. Pulling knowledge from all reaches of the internet – for better or worse – it applies a broad, general training and customizes responses to specific queries. While it isn’t focused on individual use cases or users, ChatGPT does learn within individual sessions. 

People use ChatGPT to help draft content by entering prompts. As a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), ChatGPT is remarkable when it comes to understanding language and prompt intent. 

ChatGPT is also highly adept at generating language, which enables it to “talk” back to the user. The way it does this is by predicting the next logical word in a sentence. So, how does it make predictions? ChatGPT is based on a large language model (LLM) that consists of the whole internet. (Which brings up an important consideration for using AI tools we’ll cover shortly). 

As is the case with Copilot, ChatGPT can be used in customer support. Specifically, businesses can take advantage of its conversational capabilities to guide customers through troubleshooting efforts and give comprehensive answers. 

Should Your Business Choose Copilot for Microsoft 365 or ChatGPT? 

While both tools can help you become more efficient and productive, we’ve found Microsoft Copilot to be the better choice for businesses because it’s integrated directly into your M365, fosters greater collaboration, and is significantly more secure. 

And we use Copilot ourselves. So, we’ve seen firsthand how it can improve workplace efficiency and make life easier at work. 

Copilot offers context-specific results, protects proprietary information and data, finds files in SharePoint and OneDrive, summarizes email chains, and pulls valuable information from Teams chats. Individually, any of these are a valuable service that can enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiency. But Microsoft Copilot provides it across the entire M365 suite. 

Beyond integration and productivity, Copilot eats ChatGPT’s lunch when it comes to security. If you use ChatGPT, the best practice is to assume zero privacy when typing in prompts. The platform will keep data, regardless of its sensitivity, and use it to learn. What might happen then is that your sensitive data appears in answers provided to other users. Yikes. 

Microsoft, on the other hand, has taken explicit measures to safeguard your information and data. Copilot isn’t trained on customers’ data, so your data stays secure within the confines of your organization. (Unless you wish to grant consent for other use or access). 

To sum up, here's what you really need to know. Copilot uses ChatGPT under the hood. There's not much of anything ChatGPT can do that Copilot can't, other than potentially integrating with non-Microsoft programs. BUT there is a lot more functionality that Copilot has, especially when it comes to M365. 

But the most overlooked differentiators is up-to-date results. At the time of writing this, ChatGPT has a knowledge cut-off date, of more than a year and a half a go.  In other words, while it accesses the entire web, it's not the up-to-date web. Copilot on the other hand, uses Bing's web engine to access current and up-to-date web data. 

So on top of being more integrated with your workspace, it often has more relevant data.

Microsoft’s Partnership with OpenAI 

Even though we are comparing ChatGPT to Microsoft Copilot, the two are inextricably linked because of OpenAI. This San Francisco-based AI research company created and developed ChatGPT and introduced it to the world in November 2022. OpenAI has also received significant investment from Microsoft. 

Back in 2019, Microsoft first invested $1 billion in the company. At the time, this was basically “under the radar” as a $1 billion deal can be. Since then, the total amount Microsoft has pumped into OpenAI has ballooned to $13 billion.  

In return for its investment, Microsoft integrated OpenAI’s technologies into a wide range of existing products, such as Bing, Azure cloud, GitHub coding tools, and the ubiquitous M365 bundle. (This plays a key factor in our preference between the two). 

Modern Workplace Training for AI Tools 

Artificial intelligence offers new ways of working, so it’s only natural that employees need to be appropriately trained in these technologies. According to Microsoft’s 2023 work trend index annual report – Will AI Fix Work? -- 82% of leaders say their employees will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI. Even though Microsoft is heavily interested in this new field, that statistic is still quite telling. 

Some key AI skills include writing effective prompts, checking for accuracy and bias, and knowing when to use this technology. And when not to. Considering ChatGPT pulls information from just about anywhere, confirming accuracy is important.

If your business needs modern workplace training – for AI tools or otherwise – feel free to swing by our Events page and see what modern workplace trainings we have coming up. We also provide workshops for organizations interested in elevating their productivity and collaboration skills.