Microsoft Upgrades Free Tier of Copilot AI Assistant
Microsoft Copilot, the artificial intelligence assistant developed by the tech giant, has recently undergone a significant enhancement in its free tier. Those who use Copilot now have access to GPT-4 Turbo, the powerful OpenAI model that provides advanced capabilities to the users.
To access GPT-4 Turbo, users need to set the Copilot mode to either Creative or Precise mode.
While Copilot Pro subscribers already had default access to the GPT-4 Turbo model, Microsoft advertising and web services CEO, Mikhail Parakhin, stated that these users now have the option to switch to older models if they prefer.
In Creative mode, the free users of Copilot now benefit from the enhanced experience powered by GPT-4 Turbo, as confirmed by a Microsoft spokesperson. Copilot Pro users, on the other hand, can toggle GPT-4 Turbo on or off in Creative mode.
GPT-4 Turbo: Boosting Copilot’s Capabilities
GPT-4 Turbo, having been trained on data up to April 2023, provides Copilot with impressive features such as text-to-speech prompts and a context window that can accept up to 128,000 tokens. This token capacity represents the highest amount offered by any GPT version. Tokens serve as the fundamental units comprising words, and the greater the token acceptance by the model, the more text the users can input to provide comprehensive context.
Microsoft officially launched Copilot last year, integrating AI capabilities across its platforms. Aside from being available online, this AI assistant is now embedded within Windows 11, Bing search engine, Microsoft 365, and the Edge browser. Copilot Pro, priced at $20 per month, introduces an array of additional AI-powered features in Office apps, enhanced image-creation tools, and priority access to new OpenAI models.
Generative AI Integration: A Widespread Trend
Fueled by the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot in 2022, various tech companies, including Google and Samsung, are ramping up efforts to incorporate generative AI into their products. Google is currently experimenting with AI integration in search, Samsung released the AI-laden Galaxy S24 smartphone earlier this year, and Apple has hinted at upcoming developments in the AI domain.
OpenAI, too, is continuously improving its offerings. Users can now build specialized AI apps, and OpenAI’s chatbot competitors, such as Google Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude, are consistently upgrading their own products.
Is GPT-4.5 Turbo the Next Milestone?
The introduction of GPT-4 Turbo in Microsoft’s free Copilot tier has raised the question of whether GPT-4.5 Turbo is on the horizon. Speculation emerges following an incident where OpenAI mistakenly published a blog post indicating GPT-4.5 Turbo, a forthcoming model, surpasses the capabilities of GPT-4 Turbo in terms of speed, accuracy, and scalability.
While the blog post was promptly removed from the OpenAI website, it implies that a superior GPT model may soon debut. Consequently, Microsoft’s decision to offer GPT-4 Turbo in its free tier, potentially suggests that GPT-4.5 Turbo might be destined for Copilot Pro, in the event of its future launch.
