Microsoft opens a development studio for Copilot. There, companies can develop customized versions of the chatbot or even create their own GPT from scratch.

Microsoft Copilot for 365 apps has been available since November 1st, but that was just the tip of the AI ​​iceberg. During Ignite 2023, Microsoft is introducing its brand new Copilot Studio, a developer platform where companies can get started with the AI ​​assistant. The offering is similar to a recent addition to ChatGPT that allows you to develop custom “brothers” of the chatbot.

Copilot Studio offers a complete end-to-end Copilot lifecycle in one window: you can build, deploy, analyze and manage from the same web experience, Microsoft writes in a blog. Microsoft offers this in SaaS form, so any customizations you make are live immediately. The platform also integrates with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Studio, Azure Cognitive Services and Azure Bot Service

GPTs or your own chatbot

What can you actually do in the Copilot Studio? The platform includes three levels of customization you can make to Copilot, depending on how far you want to go. The first level consists of plugins for the chatbot. This also allows you to give Copilot access to applications outside of the Office ecosystem to extend the chatbot’s reach.

Microsoft shows in a demo how you can have Copilot create budget analyses. More than a thousand connectors will be offered at launch, including with SAP, Workday and ServiceNow. The addition of OpenAI’s GPTs allows you to make customizations to the standard version of Copilot.

If you want to take it a step further, you can even create your own Copilot chatbot for specific tasks in Copilot Studio. These can be added to your website, mobile apps or Microsoft Teams. This requires limited technical knowledge: Copilot Studio offers a low-code graphics interface and you can also ask questions in natural language to refine the design.

For example, “generative replies” allow you to chat multiple times across different data sets, from files to SharePoint sites and sites to data in your own custom backends. Generative Actions also enable dynamically chained plugins and calls to key business systems to complete user queries.

The Copilot Studio also gives you an overview of your customized or self-made Copilot versions. Microsoft is now rolling out the platform as a test version.

It’s all about AI

Microsoft accelerated the adoption of generative AI during Ignite 2023. Copilot has now also become the umbrella brand for everything related to AI. Microsoft proudly points to a study that demonstrated the added value of AI in the workplace, with the nuance that this claim is supported by its own research. Working Belgium is still discovering the possibilities of AI: only seven percent use AI in the workplace.