It was a sensation when Copilot was announced by Microsoft on March 16, 2022.
I couldn't watch it live, but when I looked at the news article in the early morning, it was truly shocking. If it comes out as announced, it seems to have tremendous impact, to the extent that the work processes of users using the Office product family could change completely.
实际上，像我这样的许多普通用户可能连 Excel、PowerPoint、Outlook 等 Office 产品的功能都只用了一百次中的一百次。大多数人只会使用基本功能……当然，现在博客也很发达，YouTube 和各种在线课程服务的发展也让我们能够学习技巧并加以利用，但归根结底，这是一个需要抽出时间来学习的世界..
However, if Copilot is used appropriately as announced by Microsoft, it appears that users will be able to utilize a wide variety of powerful features already created by Microsoft by issuing commands in a conversational manner, rather than simply mastering the usage.
However, even I, who have used Office to some extent... I started thinking about how I would actually use Copilot once it appears... in which fields I would use it... and whether the presentation video would ultimately proceed according to the script, rather than being a visionary video.
So, I invited Oppadu Excel Jin-geun-won MVP, a user in my MS MVP group, Mr. Choi Young-rak, a former MVP, and Mr. Seong Won-hyuk, a Power Office user working at Jeju Visual Impairment Welfare Center where we are active together in the LevelZero community, to conduct an online broadcast.
Indeed, discussing with experts who possess more experience than I do helped me organize many thoughts. Listing the thoughts organized through this broadcast, we have the following.
- MS seems to be utilizing AI technologies like Copilot to enable users to easily utilize the vast array of background services MS already possesses and features that are skewed towards professional users, making them accessible to general users.
- To address ethical and legal issues that may arise during this process, it seems the focus is on ensuring that the Copilot service acts not as a substitute for the subject, but literally as a co-pilot that assists and aids the pilot's work, and if the pilot issues the correct command, it plays a role in executing it efficiently.
- To this end, it appears that Copilot implements the ability to issue usage commands as if speaking in language, even if lacking professional knowledge or experience, by utilizing LLM technology (language-based artificial intelligence) on Microsoft Graph.
- This seems to focus on sharing an experience that significantly enhances productivity by elevating the experience of general users who are not yet able to utilize various technologies, rather than replacing experts who possess professional technology or experience.
Of course, this is a combination of my thoughts and the opinions of a few people I discussed this with, so I cannot say it is the definitive answer, but I believe that Microsoft, which possesses the Azure cloud solution and massive forward-looking services, has a very good approach to causing their business's total usage = cost to increase even further.
Imagine a day when a wealthy person spends a massive amount of money to build a colossal shopping mall. It would have restaurants, a swimming pool, an arcade, a sleep facility, a shopping center, and so on... Imagine it as a space where you could live for days on end, spending an enormous amount of money, simply by your desire.
However, because it holds such immense potential, new users cannot utilize it properly. Even as knowledge accumulates, the gap between users who use it well and those who do not widens, and the stress of entry for new users is so severe that it fails to lead to user acquisition. The investor who poured in massive capital will suffer a huge loss. They built it well, yet they cannot sell it..
However, one day, if a very capable guide employee who understands this system very well from the 1st floor entrance and can provide guidance tailored to the user's perspective for various scenarios joins the company, the influx of new users increases, and the users' retention (time on site) increases significantly. From a wealthy person's perspective, they would want to hire many such guide employees who play that role.
It appears that the Copilot service will perform a certain role.
By using the Office suite, or rather Microsoft's diverse product families, through chat-based natural language processing commands, [it is a] blueprint to make the subscription fees paid by monthly or annual subscribers feel worthwhile..
It could just be my own speculation, but if Microsoft's attempt succeeds, it might present a new approach that could allow massive IT service companies, who struggled to boost retention rates despite having built a variety of services, to make another leap forward.
If so, it really feels like it will be the greatest innovation since the iPhone, like a fad among the masses.