Microsoft is set to transform the way corporate emails are composed with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into Microsoft Outlook.
The Microsoft 365 Copilot tool, known as "your everyday AI companion," is geared towards helping users draft emails with concise and error-free sentences. Moreover, it can also summarize lengthy email threads, facilitating the rapid creation of suggested replies.
Users with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriptions will have access to more advanced AI support through Microsoft Editor, an intelligent writing assistant. This update will introduce suggested edits aimed at enhancing clarity, conciseness, inclusive language, and more, thereby enabling workers to craft polished and professional emails.
Microsoft is planning to make the AI-enhanced Outlook tool available to a broader spectrum of corporate clients, starting from November 1. Already, the tool has undergone extensive testing over several months with companies such as Visa, General Motors, KPMG, and Lumen Technologies.
In March, Microsoft unveiled its ambitious plans to infuse artificial intelligence into its flagship productivity tools, including Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. This move promises to reshape how millions of individuals approach their daily work tasks. The introduction of the AI-powered "copilot" expands on this vision by assisting users in editing, summarizing, creating, and comparing documents. Notably, it relies on the same technology underpinning ChatGPT.
Microsoft 365 users can look forward to AI-powered features that extend beyond email composition. These include the ability to summarize meetings, generate suggested follow-up actions, request specific chart creation in Excel, and transform Word documents into PowerPoint presentations within seconds.
Corporate customers will also benefit from Microsoft 365 Chat, formerly known as Business Chat. This AI tool can scan the internet and employee emails, meetings, chats, and files, effectively functioning as a personalized secretary.
This expansion comes less than a year after OpenAI released the viral AI chat tool ChatGPT, which demonstrated remarkable abilities to generate original essays, stories, and song lyrics in response to user prompts. The response to ChatGPT has fueled an ongoing race among tech companies to incorporate similar AI tools into their products. Google, a key rival to Microsoft, has also introduced AI into its productivity tools, encompassing Gmail, Sheets, and Docs.
As AI continues to revolutionize how we engage with technology, the integration of AI tools into productivity software appears to be the next frontier. Microsoft's efforts represent a significant step towards making AI-generated content an integral part of everyday corporate communication.