What Is Copilot and Is It Better Than ChatGPT?

Last year, Microsoft unveiled a special version of its Bing search engine that was also powered by AI. Over the past year and some months, the company has continued to expand its offerings, eventually utilizing that same search engine service as an AI chatbot that it used to call Bing Chat. Now, though, it has rebranded everything involving its AI systems to be called Copilot. But what exactly is Copilot and how does it compare to other AI chatbots out there like ChatGPT and Claude? Here's what you need to know.

What is Copilot?

Essentially, Copilot is Microsoft's version of ChatGPT. It even uses the same language as ChatGPT (Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI), and can be asked similar questions, as well as used to solve complex tasks like math problems, and even to create images using Bing's Image Creator, all from the same platform.

Copilot is the bread and butter of Microsoft's AI offerings, and it builds off of GPT-4 really well, while also adding access to the internet—which ensures that Copilot can always provide the most up-to-date information about queries you ask.

You can ask Copilot to write poetry, stories, generate article ideas, and a slew of other things in a similar manner like you would with ChatGPT.

How much does Copilot cost?

Copilot is free. In fact, Microsoft's Copilot platform is the only way that users can access GPT-4 (the most advanced version of OpenAI's large language model) for free. All you need to access Copilot is a Microsoft account, which is also free. Chances are, you probably already have one of these if you use a Windows computer.

Why are there multiple Copilot apps?

Perhaps one of the most confusing things about Copilot is that there are multiple offerings under the Copilot umbrella. There's the Copilot chatbot, then there is Windows Copilot, Copilot for Microsoft 365, and even Copilot for service, Copilot for Sales, and so on down the list.

Ultimately, Copilot is the primary chatbot, though, and you can access it for free. Many of the other versions of Copilot require specific types of subscriptions to use, though Windows Copilot is currently available as a free preview in some versions of Windows 11.

What language model does Copilot use?

Microsoft designed Copilot to work off of the latest version of OpenAI's GPT model, GPT-4, which is the same model that ChatGPT Plus users get access to. It's the most advanced model that OpenAI has created, and Microsoft has worked closely with the company to develop it within the constraints of its own systems.

Copilot uses GPT-4 to offer more accurate, reliable, and capable responses than OpenAI's previous model, GPT-3.5. As I noted above, Copilot is the only reliable way to get access to GPT-4 without having to pay anything. ChatGPT Plus users must pay $20 to access GPT-4 when using OpenAI's chatbot.

What is Copilot's chat limit?

Copilot currently offers a 2,000 character limit per chat with the system. This is less than half of ChatGPT's current 4,096 character limit. (There are ways to bypass those limits in ChatGPT, though we won't get into that here.)

Despite having a somewhat smaller chat limit, Copilot should offer more than enough space for most of your queries. Note that this limit may change in the future, as it has changed in the past.

How do you access Copilot?

Copilot can be access freely by anyone with a Microsoft account. All you need to do is make your way to the Copilot website and then sign in with a Microsoft account. If you don't have a Microsoft account, you can always make one to access the AI chatbot.

Microsoft also has not shared any details about making a premium option for Copilot, though that could change in the future.

Is there a Copilot app?

If you don't want to use the Copilot website, you can always use the Bing app on both iPhone and Android devices to access Copilot. While it isn't solely dedicated to the AI chatbot, you can still make use of Copilot through the search bar when you open up the application.

How accurate is Copilot?

Since Copilot runs off of GPT-4, it is as accurate as OpenAI's ChatGPT. However, like most AI chatbots and large language models, Copilot is prone to hallucinating and creating false information. As such, you should always check any of the data and information that Copilot provides you with to ensure that you aren't plagiarizing or stealing content.

It should also be noted that in the past Copilot was known for taking credit for information that it had actually read from other websites, so it's important to check the quality of any and all work that you do with the AI chatbot.

Is Copilot better than ChatGPT?

This is a bit of a loaded question, and a difficult one to answer. Because ChatGPT and Copilot both run off of the same language models, they operate in very similar ways. However, users running the free version of ChatGPT, which is locked to GPT-3.5, will find that Copilot is much more efficient and accurate than ChatGPT. If you use ChatGPT Plus, though, and subscribe to use GPT-4, then you'll be getting similar efficiency.

There is one area that Copilot tends to do exceptionally better than ChatGPT, though, and that all ties into how much Copilot has been built around search. GPT-4 enables a lot of advancements that older LLMs don't support, including full access to the internet, which is possible thanks to Microsoft's Bing connection. While you can get internet connection through a plugin with ChatGPT, Copilot was built to take advantage of the billions of bytes of data accessible across the internet. As such, it is by far one of the easiest ways to access the most up-to-date information when utilizing an AI chatbot. It'll even cite its sources, so you can check where the bot pulled a certain claim from for yourself.

At the end of the day, though, both ChatGPT and Copilot will respond similarly because they use the same large language model, and Microsoft isn't changing much of what's happening behind the scenes.