Microsoft introduces new Copilot features such as collaboration, Google integration

(Reuters) -Microsoft introduced new features in its digital assistant Copilot on Thursday, including collaboration and deeper integration with other applications such as Outlook and Google, beefing up its AI services to stave off competition. Anthropic and OpenAI, among other artificial intelligence service providers, are upgrading their models and launching products aimed at capturing a wider share of the booming AI market. If it gets user permission, Copilot can see and apply reasoning capabilities over its tabs on Microsoft's Edge browser to summarize, compare information and take actions like booking a hotel. Previous searches can also be turned into "storylines" so people can revisit older ideas. Along with the software features, the company introduced an avatar called "Mico" — a nod to Microsoft Copilot — that can show expressions and change color to make conversations feel natural, the company said. The upgrades are an attempt to boost the appeal of Microsoft's browser to get ahead of other agentic browsers like Perplexity's Comet, Alphabet's Google Chrome and the freshly released OpenAI's Atlas. Groups turns Copilot into a shared space, able to support up to 32 people, allowing users to collaborate on writing and other projects. Copilot also has long-term memory, helping people keep track of thoughts and lists, while personalization allows it to remember a user's important information and then recall it during future interactions. "It's absolutely essential for a companion to have memory. With co-pilot's long-term memory, it naturally picks up on important details and remembers them long after you've had the conversation," said Ella Steckler, AI product manager at Microsoft. The company has also improved Copilot's health-related questions, addressing how to ground responses from credible sources, as concerns over misinformation from AI-generated responses rise. All the updates are live in the United States, Microsoft said, adding that it will roll them out across the UK, Canada and beyond in the next few weeks. (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Alan Barona)

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