In the past few months, we’ve seen a rise in Artificial Intelligence (AI), leading to the emergence of lots of new AI tools and software. Two big players in this field are Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT. These two tools have been a driving force in increasing innovation within this field.

This surge was brought upon by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool is a chatbot tool used by many today.  The chatbot is known for its skill in understanding natural language and generating answers, allowing users to find questions to all their answers with a simple prompt. Whether it’s to find an answer to a specific question, needing help to debug a piece of code, or generating ideas for a marketing campaign, this tool has turned into the go-to search platform, replacing Google.

On the other hand, Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s brand-new AI assistant to help users work faster and smarter. It offers a wide range of AI tools and integrates with Microsoft’s Apps to expand the capabilities of AI. Business professionals use Copilot to speed up their writing in Word, produce graphs in Excel with a single click, and summarise essential points covered in a Teams meeting to ensure they don't forget anything.

In this blog, we’re going to compare Copilot and ChatGPT to see what each does best and how they stack up against each other. We’re also going to be putting the two chatbots to the test to see which one provides the best results.

We're going to compare Copilot and ChatGPT to see what each does best and how they stack up against each other. The goal is to understand their differences and figure out which one is more useful.

What is Microsoft Copilot and its Features?

Copilot is a flexible digital assistant which uses AI to streamline a wide range of business tasks. Using OpenAI’s GPT-4 language mode, it seamlessly integrates with Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. This integration helps users automate tasks, analyse data, and improve communication.

Additionally, Copilot features an advanced chatbot designed to help users engage in dynamic conversation, similar to ChatGPT’s basic version. Users can tailor their conversation style with Copilot, opting for creativity, balance, or precision. It assists with tasks such as meal planning and recommending furniture brands, tackling questions too complex for a simple Google search.

One standout feature is Copilot's ability to fetch up-to-date information from the internet at no extra cost, which is great for users looking to find information about recent events.

What is ChatGPT and its Features?

ChatGPT is an abbreviation for 'Generative Pre-trained Transformer,' a type of artificial intelligence that processes an input to generate a response. ChatGPT can thus develop responses to any written point in a conversational style using a chatbot, making it ideal for businesses to easily use and quickly gain information while saving time searching through the number of websites on the internet.

ChatGPT is an extremely useful tool that = any business can use to achieve its objectives. Whether it's to implement a new marketing strategy, increase customer engagement, or generate new ideas, the possibilities are limitless with this free tool.

ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot: The Major Differences:

It's easy to see ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot as similar tools, both being generative AI tools that use OpenAI technology. However, they’re both different in their focus and intended use.

First things first, let’s talk about price. ChatGPT is a free tool available to all. While it does have a paid version, you can find most of what you need with the free version. On the other hand, Microsoft Copilot requires you to have a Microsoft 365 license, in which you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription fee, depending on the 365 license type you choose.

ChatGPT is a more versatile tool, suitable for various tasks such as content creation, customer support, and research. It's perfect for writing essays, crafting job descriptions, or anything creative.

On the other hand, Microsoft Copilot has a more specific focus on helping users within the Microsoft ecosystem. Its main aim is to improve productivity, efficiency, and workplace performance. Copilot is used more in tasks related to coding assistance, code debugging, and technical support.

While both tools rely on large language models developed by Open AI, ChatGPT uses the GPT-3.5 model trained on information available on the internet. Meanwhile, Copilot uses the more advanced GPT-4 language model, allowing users to find information about real-time events.

If you’re looking to work smarter with your Microsoft ecosystem, Copilot is the way to go. But if you’re more interested in experimenting with AI, ChatGPT is the choice.

Putting ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot to The Test:

To really showcase the differences between ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, we compared the answers both chatbots provided for the same prompt. We asked 3 prompts, each with a different search intent to see how the two AI tools stack up to provide the best answer.

We asked both CoPilot and ChatGPT to “Give me 10 blog post ideas for a company which sells IT Support and Services to small to medium-sized businesses.” Here are both their responses:

As you can see both chatbots gave a list which is relevant to the industry and the target audience. However, Copilot went further to explain what type of content you should include in the blog posts. Some of the blog post ideas they mentioned are incredibly similar and cover the same topic such as “Remote Work” and “Cyber Security”.

Next up, we asked both the chatbots “What is Mobile Device Management?” Both chatbots gave an in-depth explanation as well as covered the key aspects of Mobile Device Management. However, because ChatGPT only has information until January 2022, it didn’t discuss how MDM has been used in recent years which is shown in the answer provided by Microsoft Copilot.

We then asked both chatbots to “Write an introduction paragraph for a blog about 'What is Microsoft Planner'” to understand how both chatbots compare when it comes to generating written content. Here are the results:

Both chatbots did a great job at introducing what Microsoft Planner is and the various benefits of the tool. However, Copilot takes it one step further by including a ‘Learn more’ feature to help users navigate the best sources to find more information about the topic.

ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot: Final Verdict:

In the showdown between ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, each AI tool shows off what it's good at. ChatGPT is great for generating a wide range of responses because it's versatile and easy to use. It's free and can help with things like writing or helping customers. On the other hand, Microsoft Copilot works really well if you're already using Microsoft apps. It helps you work faster by working with Microsoft 365 apps and getting information quickly. Even though both use OpenAI tech, they're different. If you're all about Microsoft, go with Copilot. But if you want to dip your toes into AI, stick with ChatGPT. They both have their strengths, so it depends on what you need and like.