Understand Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat (Basic) is enterprise-ready AI chat available at no additional cost to your Microsoft 365 subscription. It's your AI assistant for work, combining the power of the latest large language models (LLMs) with web-based insights to help you with tasks like summarizing, brainstorming, writing, coding, and searching. It provides intelligent suggestions and automates repetitive tasks to make your work easier.
Important
Your experience with Microsoft 365 Copilot may differ from what is presented in this training based on your version. See What Copilot License do I have? for reference.
Copilot Chat (Basic) includes:
Secure, AI chat grounded in the web and powered by GPT-5.
Pay-as-you-go agents accessible from chat, and priced on a metered basis.
IT controls, including enterprise data protection and agent management.
Features like Copilot Pages, file upload, and image generation.
Important
File upload and image generation limits may apply. A SharePoint license is required to use Copilot Pages.
Tip
"Grounding" is the data that the AI uses to do what you ask it to do. LLMs are the engine that drives Microsoft 365 Copilot. They help Copilot understand your questions and provide helpful, human-like answers.
Whether researching industry insights, analyzing data, or looking for inspiration, Copilot Chat (Basic) gives users access to better answers, greater efficiency, and new ways to get their work done through chat and agents. Copilot Chat (Basic) also adheres to our AI principles..
Add a Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) license
Copilot Chat (Basic) becomes powerful, building on other Copilot Chat (Basic) features, when you have a Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) license in addition to your standard Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) includes:
- Chat grounded in work sources (files, meetings, emails, and chats) and priority access to capabilities like file upload and image generation, and reasoning capabilities and models (like GPT-5).
Note
By default, Copilot Chat (Basic) uses web mode, grounding responses in public web data for research, brainstorming, and up-to-date information. If you have a Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) license, you'll see a toggle for work and web mode. The toggle allows you to switch between grounding your prompts in work or web data. Work mode connects Copilot Chat to your organizational data such as files, emails, meetings, and chats, so you can draft documents, summarize meetings, and manage tasks directly in your work. Both modes provide generative AI services but serve different purposes to help you be more productive.
Integration in Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more, with advanced skills and in-app editing.
Comprehensive access to agents, including Analyst & Researcher advanced reasoning agents, prebuilt Microsoft agents, and custom agents grounded in your data.
Additional Copilot Control System value like SharePoint Advanced Management and Copilot Analytics.
Tip
Learn about the features and benefits of adding a Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) license to your Microsoft 365 subscription by taking our course Transform business workflows with generative A.