Microsoft Team Copilot: A virtual team member to run meetings and projects

Microsoft is introducing a new version of Copilot that transforms it from a personal assistant into a virtual colleague to help out teams, departments and companies. If you’re looking for someone to tackle the mundane administrative work, you won’t have to worry if there’s a budget to bring on an additional headcount. Instead, turn to Copilot—at least, that’s the pitch Microsoft is making.

Available through Copilot for Microsoft 365, Team Copilot promises to run online meetings by managing the agenda and taking notes. It can also help keep track of what people are talking about in Teams by summarizing threads and answering questions from the group—tl;dr, anyone? Lastly, Team Copilot will track the progress of projects by assigning tasks, overseeing deadlines and notifying specific team members when feedback is requested.

While Team Copilot has its benefits, there are limitations. Specifically, it might not be as effective if you’re holding in-person meetings. Companies may not want to put all their faith in it to effectively manage projects compared to those who are certified in the profession. Though this new tool might rile up those worried about AI’s effect on job displacement, Team Copilot doesn’t appear to have a parity skill set that their human counterparts would have. Like most other AI apps, this is designed to eliminate the tedious and boring work executive assistants deal with daily.

Team Copilot will be available for Microsoft customers in preview later this year, but in order to access it, a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license is required.