Tech titan Microsoft recently made a significant strategic move in the realm of AI chatbot technology. During the Microsoft Ignite 2023 event, the company announced a comprehensive rebranding of Bing Chat, their AI-powered bot launched earlier this year. The new incarnation of Bing Chat is 'Copilot in Bing'. In line with the complete overhaul, the erstwhile 'Bing Chat Enterprise', a premium corporate-centric version of Bing Chat, has now been rechristened as 'Copilot'.
Microsoft's Director of Communications, Caitlin Roulston, explained the rationale behind the name change in an email to TechCrunch, stating, The transition from 'Bing Chat Enterprise' to 'Copilot' mirrors our objective to conjure an integrated Copilot experience for both individual and corporate customers.
However, the transformation isn't solely about a simple name swap. As of December 1, users logging into Bing with a corporate account, specifically with a Microsoft Entra ID, can take advantage of 'commercial data protection' while leveraging 'Copilot in Bing'. According to Roulston, this essentially implies that such users' data will neither be saved nor employed to trains AI models. Furthermore, Microsoft will not have access to it.
When Copilot officially becomes a Microsoft product on December 1, we will update the commercial terms and conditions, said Roulston. She mentioned that it would then adopt Microsoft's universal license terms for online services. Roulston noted that, over time, the sphere of Copilot users with commercial data protection would be broadened to include even more Entra ID users, without incurring any extra charges.
With the launch of Copilot, Microsoft is definitely intensifying the competition in the AI-powered chatbot market. Platforms like OpenAI's ChatGPT and others like the AppMaster no-code platform have been instrumental in their respective sectors, providing intuitive chatbot solutions for different user needs. As other key players continue to innovate, the anticipation now lies in observing how Microsoft's Copilot heightens the rivalry.
