As AI becomes a more ‘normal’ part of our lives with many tools at our disposal, it does beg the question of what tool is the best to use? When it comes to AI tools, there are many, but for the purposes of this post, we will focus on the popular two: Chat GPT and Copilot (formerly known as Bing Chat Enterprise). 

Before we continue, let's provide some quick context: in early 2022, Microsft launched an upgraded version of its search engine Bing to include a new powerful AI-driven chatbot that called Bing Chat. In November 2023, Microsoft announced that it was renaming Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise to Copilot to give users a more unified experience.

Both tools – Chat GPT and Copilot are backed by Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) – a family of AI models built by OpenAI and serve as productivity vehicles to assist with answering questions based on specific prompts, acting as a guide when requesting assistance, and so on. 

We take a look at three areas when comparing the two models:

1. Pricing

If you are looking for free, simplified corporate access to GPT-4 (OpenAI's most advanced and more powerful language model), Copilot is currently your best bet. This is because you get to experience the advantages of GPT-4 through Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome at no added cost when on Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium licenses. It will also eventually be available as a stand-alone offering at $5 per user, per month. Access to GPT-4 through ChatGPT is only available through their paid ChatGPT plus and enterprise plans.

2. Security

As of December 2023, users with a corporate account can benefit from “commercial data protection” while using Copilot. That means their data, including chat history, prompts and responses, won’t be saved nor used to train AI models and Microsoft won’t have access to it. There will also be a green disclaimer at the bottom of the chat reiterating that your information is secure.

This is a big advantage for employees that are looking to AI tools to help them significantly boost productivity in the workplace. Microsoft recently released its 2023 Work Trend Index - which is a study based on a survey led by an independent research firm among 31,000 workers across 31 markets between February 1, 2023, and March 14, 2023. One of the focuses of this study was on how employers viewed the idea of utilizing AI and a staggering 70% of those surveyed agreed that they would welcome AI with open arms and gladly delegate as many tasks as possible to AI tools to help reduce workloads. 

ChatGPT also offers an added layer of security including SOC-2 compliance on it's Enterprise plan which was introduced earlier this year, so perhaps both tools are fairly equal - at least at the Enterprise level - when it comes to data security. 

3. Usability

Copilot being built into Microsoft Edge gives it the ability to provide more integrated, tailored answers, contextually. It feels like you're having a conversation with the bot, much like how you would interact with a live chat agent. As an example, if you're on a specific website, it will answer questions from that page contextually and even provide a footnotes on demand with links to the original sources. This is a very convenient feature.

Additionally, if you’re sifting through a plethora of information and need help to pick out the key points or need it summarized to a "Cole's Notes" version, Copilot can do that for you as well.

ChatGPT, on the other hand, requires you to be very specific in your prompts to evoke the most satisfactory response. And the tone of the responses tend to sounds more 'robotic'. When it comes to summarizing data, you’ll need to copy and paste a link to the article in question (or text only, if you're on the free version), which tends to add extra, unwanted steps in the process. 

All in all, Copilot seems to give a more seamless, robust experience.

Copilot is currently accessible in Windows and through the web at Copilot.Microsoft.com for eligible Microsoft users. It should be noted that the Windows version does not offer the same commerical data protection that is available in Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) and the full-scale version of Copilot.

 At a licensing level, Copilot is currently available on the following Microsoft 365 Enterprise and Business plans:  

• Microsoft 365 E3 & Microsoft 365 E5
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard & Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Microsoft 365 A3 & Microsoft 365 A 5 for faculty licenses
• Microsoft 365 F3 (effective December 2023)
• Microsoft Copilot will be added to more Entra ID users over time

But there is a caveat: to gain full and complete access to Copilot across all Microsoft 365 apps, you must commit to a minimum of 300 seats at $30 per user, per month, which is on top of the regular cost of an E3 or E5 subscription.That can add up very quickly which suggests smaller businesses are at a disadvantage and will need to wait longer to gain full accessibility.

Cloud Service Providers also need to wait

Another important thing to note is that Copilot at the CSP level is not available yet. The staggered release is likely due to Microsoft's need to scale up infrastructure and compute power to be able to manage the enormous influx of users it will garner from the wider release at the CSP level.The actual release date has yet to be determined but we anticiplate it will be sometime in 2024.

Overall, Copilot and ChatGPT are both powerful AI-driiven chatbots with key differences in how inputs are handled. What tool you choose to use is based on your own personal preference and accessibility.

If you’d like to learn more in depth about Copilot and all the various things in can offer, watch our replay from a session we held recently and contact us to leverage our copilot readiness assessment to help you along your journey to an AI-powered future.