Copilot Chat
About Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is an enterprise AI-powered assistant tool that enables users to experiment with generative AI text, image, and coding tools without storing user data or using it to train large language models.
What can Copilot do?
Copilot acts as a virtual assistant capable of doing things like:
- summarizing long documents and PDFs ("Summarize this article")
- creating stunning images for social media, presentations, articles, and more ("Create an image of a roadrunner")
- drafting documents, agendas, presentations, itineraries, etc. ("Help me draft a meeting agenda")
Microsoft Copilot can help you research, analyze data, or seek new approaches. It can provide access to better answers, help improve efficiency, and suggest new ways to be creative. One major benefit of AI is that it allows us to conduct searches in conversational language. In other words, with Copilot, you get answers, not links.
Copilot Chat or Copilot Premium?
UT San Antonio offers two versions of Microsoft Copilot. Both include Microsoft's enterprise data protection when you sign in with your university account. The difference is where Copilot works and what information it can draw on.
Copilot Chat
In Microsoft 365, this version is labeled "M365 Copilot (Basic)."
- Chat with Copilot in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app
- Get answers from the web and from files you upload to the chat
- Use Copilot in Outlook with your inbox and calendar
- Standard access to Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote
Copilot Premium
In Microsoft 365, this version is labeled "M365 Copilot (Premium)."
- Everything in Copilot Chat
- The full Copilot experience in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote
- Answers that draw on your work content, such as emails, meetings, chats, and files you already have permission to access
- Researcher and Analyst agents for multistep research and data analysis
- Priority access when demand is high
How do I access Copilot?
Copilot is available via web browser, as a mobile app, and as part of the most popular Microsoft applications.
To access it on a web browser, visit copilot.microsoft.com and sign in with your UT San Antonio email address and passphrase. If you are an active student, use your student @my.utsa.edu email address.
What is the difference between Copilot and other generative AI tools?
Like other generative AI tools, Copilot generates, summarizes, analyzes, explains, and brainstorms using the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) from GPT and Claude.
Unlike other tools, however, Copilot is optimized for workplace activity in a Microsoft environment. It also comes with enterprise data protection—ensuring any data you put in is not saved to teach future models.
Currently, Copilot is the only AI tool UT San Antonio provides to students, faculty, and staff at no additional cost.