Frequently asked questions about Copilot

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Availability

What is Copilot?

Copilot is the new name for Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise, and it's now generally available. For the time being, the names Copilot and Bing Chat Enterprise may be used interchangeably as various parts of the experience transition to the new name. It's accessible from copilot.microsoft.com, Bing.com/chat, Edge, and Windows. It’s also available through the Copilot, Bing, Edge, Microsoft Start, and Microsoft 365 mobile apps. Eligible users who sign in to Copilot with Entra ID get commercial data protection.

Which Microsoft 365 licenses are eligible for Copilot with commercial data protection at no additional cost?

Customers with these licenses are eligible for commercial data protection in Copilot at no additional cost:

Enterprises

  • Microsoft 365 E3 or E5
  • Microsoft 365 F1 or F3
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Premium, or Basic
  • Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise or business
  • Office 365 E1, E1 Plus, E3, E5, or F3

Education faculty and higher ed students (18+)

  • Microsoft 365 A1, A3, or A5
  • Office 365 A1, A3, or A5

Eligibility for students includes Student Use Benefit licenses.

Office 365 A1 Plus licenses aren't eligible due to its retirement later this year. Learn more: Retirement Plan for the Office 365 A1 Plus | Microsoft Education.

Commercial data protection in Copilot is not yet available for government cloud customers or for K-12 students. We'll add eligibility for commercial data protection to more Entra ID users over time.

Where is Copilot available?

Copilot is available in over 160 regions. It isn't available in China (excluding Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan) and Russia, but both the Simplified Chinese and Russian languages are supported.

Can I use Copilot with any browser?

Copilot supports Microsoft Edge (desktop and mobile) and other major non-Microsoft browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

Is Copilot accessible via API?

No, we don't offer an API.

I heard that commercial data protection for Copilot is offered as a standalone product for non-eligible users for $5/user/month. Is that still available?

We recently announced our plan to expand the availability of commercial data protection for Copilot to even more Entra ID users over time at no additional cost. Because of this planned expansion, the standalone offering is no longer available.

Privacy and security

Can IT admins monitor or audit Entra ID activity or usage in Copilot? Can they see my search history?

No, these actions aren't currently supported. Microsoft doesn't provide tools for IT admins to access chat history, nor do we retain chat history in Copilot when used with commercial data protection. However, Entra ID users of Copilot with commercial data protection may be subject to other methods of monitoring by IT admins on their company network or devices.

Since Copilot is built on OpenAI's ChatGPT model, does Copilot share any information with OpenAI?

No, all chat data is processed by Microsoft. Additionally, Copilot with commercial data protection doesn't retain your chat data and it isn't used to train the underlying large language models.

Does Copilot with commercial data protection work with Bing SafeSearch settings?

Yes, Copilot works with all Bing SafeSearch settings, including Strict.

How will my employees know they have commercial data protection when using Copilot?

Eligible employees using Copilot with commercial data protection must sign in to copilot.microsoft.com using their Entra ID (work or school account). When commercial data protection is turned on, Copilot features a unique design. Above the chat input box and on top of every chat answer, users see a message confirming 'Your personal and company data are protected in this chat.' Additionally, users see 'Protected' next to their user profile icon and name at the top of the experience.

Does Copilot fall under the terms of the Data Protection Addendum (DPA)?

No. The DPA requires company data to remain inside geographic or tenant boundaries. Copilot uses global data centers for processing and may process data in the United States.

How can I prevent sensitive internal content from being summarized using Copilot in Microsoft Edge for Business?

Edge for Business comes with native capabilities for enforcing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies. This way, your organization’s approach to preventing unauthorized data disclosure automatically extends to Copilot in Edge.

When using Copilot in Edge, Edge enforces DLP policies from Purview, Intune Mobile Application Management (MAM), and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (MDA)*, which helps prevent data from being scraped. As a result, a user can't copy or paste content protected by DLP policies. Users also can't summarize protected content using Copilot in Edge, and admins can block Copilot from receiving sensitive files through the file upload feature.

To learn more about what document types can be summarized with Copilot in Edge and additional data protections in Edge, check out documentation about Copilot in Edge webpage summarization behavior.

*MDA is currently available in preview.

Copilot vs. Copilot for Microsoft 365

What are the differences between Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365?

Copilot is a generative AI service grounded in data from the public web in the Bing search index only. It doesn't have access to organizational resources or content within the Microsoft 365 Graph, such as documents in OneDrive, emails, or other data, even when commercial data protection is turned on.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 adds three things:

  1. Access to data within the Microsoft 365 Graph in your tenant.
  2. Prompts and responses are processed entirely within your Microsoft 365 service boundary, along with other Microsoft 365-specific security, compliance, and privacy features.
  3. Access to this generative AI capability from Microsoft 365 applications like Teams, Outlook, and Word.

Can Copilot with commercial data protection access data within my Microsoft 365 or Azure tenant?

No.

Managing access

How can I ensure that people in my network who use Copilot and Microsoft 365 Chat in Bing have access to commercial data protection?

To avoid leaks of proprietary or sensitive internal data, admins can make configurations in the Copilot service plan to require their eligible users to always have commercial data protection in Copilot. These configurations apply when people access Copilot through Bing, Edge, Windows, copilot.microsoft.com, or the Copilot mobile app. Microsoft 365 Chat in Bing also includes commercial data protection.

To require commercial data protection for Copilot and maintain access to Microsoft 365 Chat in Bing, follow the instructions here: Require commercial data protection.

What IPs do I need to allow in my network for Copilot to work?

For Copilot to work, you need to allowlist the following IPs:

  • *.bing.com
  • port 443 for sydney.bing.com and s.copilot.microsoft.com
  • allow WebSocket connections to sydney.bing.com:443 and s.copilot.microsoft.com:443

Check access to required ports via a test connection, for example: Test-NetConnection sydney.bing.com -Port 443

How can I manage commercial data protection in Copilot for specific users and groups in my organization?

A Copilot service plan (part name: bing_chat_enterprise) is included with eligible Microsoft 365 licenses in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Admins should use this service plan to manage commercial data protection for specific users and groups of Copilot.

To learn about implementing commercial data protection for Copilot at the user level, see Manage Copilot.

Outside of using the Copilot service plan to manage access for students, what else is recommended to prepare education institutions for Copilot?

Controls in the Microsoft Admin Center allow you to validate your school type and apply age group classifications to your users. For more information, please see Managing Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) access for Faculty and Higher Education 18+ students.

My organization has Microsoft 365 E3 and/or E5 ‘Original’ subscriptions. How do I manage access to Copilot with commercial data protection for these users?

Organizations with Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 'Original' subscriptions no longer need to use the Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 Extra Features license to manage Microsoft Copilot for their users. Because Copilot is now available at no additional charge to customers with a greater range of licenses, organizations with Original subscriptions can now use the ‘Commercial data protection for Microsoft Copilot’ service plan under their Office 365 license to manage Copilot for their users.

Refer to our Manage Copilot documentation for instructions on how to turn on commercial data protection for Copilot.

Can I turn on commercial data protection for Copilot for my 'Original' Microsoft 365 SKU users, but not the other features in the 'Microsoft 365 Extra Features' license?

Yes. To do so, you need to remove the service plans for the features you don't want to provision. See how to disable access to Microsoft 365 services with PowerShell.

You can learn more about what is included in the Extra Features license here.

If my company blocked access to adult content by implementing SafeSearch with a proxy redirect, will Copilot still be accessible to users in my organization?

Yes. If your organization implemented SafeSearch with a proxy redirect, you still have access to Copilot with commercial data protection.

I turned off Microsoft Search in Bing for my organization. Why are my users still seeing Copilot with commercial data protection?

Users in tenants with Microsoft Search in Bing turned off are able to sign in to Bing with their work or school account and access Copilot with commercial data protection. Turning off Microsoft Search in Bing doesn't turn off Copilot or its commercial data protection. To turn off Copilot with commercial data protection, see our Manage Copilot documentation.

Can I manage Image Creator from Microsoft Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator) or Visual Search within Copilot?

Controls for Image Creator from Microsoft Designer and Visual Search aren't available.

Prompts

What's a prompt? What makes a good one?

A prompt is simply how you ask Copilot to do something for you. It can be short and simple or longer and more detailed. All it really needs is a clear goal to deliver helpful results, but the more details and direction you provide, the better Copilot can meet your needs.

Visit the Copilot Lab to learn more about prompts. There, you'll find tips on creating effective prompts, a collection of sample prompts that you can edit to make your own, and much more.

Using Copilot for work or education

What kinds of things can employees do at work with Copilot?

Copilot can help employees quickly generate content, analyze or compare data, summarize documents, learn new skills, write code, and much more. Eligible users also receive commercial data protection when they signed in with their work account (Entra ID).

For example, Copilot can help them:

  • Understand the implications of a decision: 'What are the pros and cons of offline marketing strategies?' or 'How can I measure the success of my offline marketing campaign?'
  • Learn new skills: 'What are the top five things I should know when managing a large project?' and 'What is agile project management and how does it differ from waterfall?'
  • Analyze data: 'If we're forecasting 7% EPS growth this coming quarter, how does our internal forecast compare with EPS growth in the top US public CPG companies?'
  • Summarize a work PDFs open in Edge: 'Recap the findings of this internal cybersecurity report and the top three concerns' or 'What are best practices for addressing these kinds of security issues?'
  • Write better code faster: 'Write a regular expression in Python that matches email addresses' or 'How can I use the unittest module to write test units for my Python code?'
  • Plan a business trip: 'Where should I stay in Manhattan that has a good running path close by?'
  • Generate social media content: 'Use this messaging framework to generate five social media posts describing its value to healthcare workers.'

What kinds of things can educators do with Copilot?

Copilot can help educators generate content, conduct research, learn new skills, and much more. Eligible users also receive commercial data protection when signed in with their school account (Entra ID).

For example, Copilot can help educators:

  • Personalize learning: 'Generate a reading passage sample for my third grade class about the ocean, include three versions for Lexile levels 420L to 650L, 520L to 820L, 740L to 940L.'
  • Plan a lesson: 'Create lesson plans on the Kinematics unit for my AP Physics class. Include the relevant learning objectives, materials, and activities' or 'Create a one-hour lesson plan for introducing genetics in biology class to middle school students.'
  • Brainstorm: 'List 20 unique project ideas for my secondary school European history class.'
  • Tutor: 'Create 30 French vocabulary flashcards for a college student in an intermediate French class.'
  • Summarize a PDF open in Edge: 'Recap the findings of this flipped classroom research paper and list three recommendations and three challenges.'
  • Improve efficiency: 'Create a lesson plan for linear combination for my linear algebra class with a 10-question multiple choice quiz.'
  • Communicate: 'Draft an email to parents asking for their support to volunteer in the classroom this year.'
  • Analyze: 'Act as an elementary school schedule design expert, review the schedule to identify problems and suggest changes that provide additional planning time for educators.'

What kinds of things can college students do with Copilot?

Copilot can help students in college and grad school take better notes, refine their study habits, sharpen their writing skills, and even manage stress or focus on their work. Beginning in early February, eligible students in higher educational institutions also receive commercial data protection when signed in with their school account (Entra ID).

For example, Copilot can help higher ed students:

  • Improve the way they study: 'Give me a quiz to see what I remember about enzyme kinetics for biochemistry' or 'If I paste in my syllabus, can you help me develop a study plan?' or 'Ask me questions to help me study for my upcoming computer science exam.'
  • Take better and more efficient notes: 'Summarize the latest World Trade Report from the WTO' or 'If I paste in my lecture notes, can you identify the key ideas and give me some mnemonics to help me remember each topic?'
  • Improve their writing: 'If I paste in a draft of my essay, can you help me revise it?' or 'Help me brainstorm for an essay on Okun's law for my macroeconomics course.'
  • Manage stress: 'How can I track my progress this semester and adjust my plans as needed?' or 'If I list all the things I need to do this week, can you help me break them down into manageable tasks?'
  • Focus on their work: 'Ask me questions to help you generate a plan to help me focus this semester' or 'If I give you my schedule this semester, can you suggest ways to help me focus?'

I need help getting my users started on Copilot. What should I do next?

Visit our Copilot page on Microsoft Adoption to download our Copilot End User Adoption Kit for your organization. This kit is meant to assist you in your end-to-end Copilot adoption journey. It includes a tip sheet with five tips for making the most of Copilot with commercial data protection. It also has instructions for IT admins, a user training deck, and two customizable emails to send out to your organization. We're continually updating this adoption kit to provide more resources.

What's the best way to verify the accuracy of information provided by Copilot?

Copilot answers complex questions by distilling information from multiple web sources into a single response. Copilot provides linked citations to these answers so the user can further explore and research as they would with traditional search.

How does translation in Copilot work?

Copilot uses the large language model (LLM) for translation, not any external service. Note: If the chat response provides a source for translation, this is a hallucination.

Copilot can perform translations in all languages supported by Bing—no public list is available at this time. No data is stored in the LLM when Copilot performs a translation. Content is translated through language processing and adheres to the same commercial data protection promises as other chats.

Features

How does file upload work in Copilot?

Users can upload various types of files into the chat box, where they can then be summarized, referenced, or used in other helpful ways. The file upload feature isn't currently configurable by admins. Learn more about uploading files on our Features page here.

What are boosts?

Boosts are a key part of the Copilot feature called Designer. They help you create AI images better and faster than ever. Boosts aren't currently configurable by admins. Learn more about boosts and Designer on our Features page here.

What is Notebook? Can admins manage access to it?

Notebook is a new way to interact with the generative AI models powering Copilot. Beyond chat, Notebook is like an enhanced scratch pad that lets you fine-tune your prompts. Notebook isn't currently configurable by admins. Learn more about Notebook on our Features page here.

Advertising

Are there advertisements in Copilot when commercial data protection is turned on?

Copilot occasionally shows advertisements as part of chat responses. An ad that appears in a chat response is triggered by any queries generated by the user's prompt. When commercial data protection is enabled, advertising in Copilot isn't targeted, meaning no information from the user's workplace identity is used to determine the ads that appear. Entra ID users of Copilot won't be retargeted by ads they previously interacted with in Copilot chats.

User interface

What are the changes in the updated Copilot user interface?

Starting February 7, 2024, the Microsoft Copilot user interface (UI) began updating to a more streamlined look and feel based on user feedback. The updated UI makes it easier to follow the flow of chats while using Copilot.

Copilot UI updates include:

  • A left-aligned chat experience. Users see their profile icon next to their prompts and the Copilot icon next to Copilot’s responses.
  • Chat scrolls down from the top of the page (versus up from the bottom).
  • Simplified visuals and text for a cleaner interface.
  • For users signed in with their personal accounts (not work or school), suggested prompts above the chat input box are displayed in a carousel format.

The updated Copilot UI is first appearing on copilot.microsoft.com, Copilot in Windows, and the Copilot mobile app. Copilot in Edge and Bing, and Copilot in other mobile application entry points will transition to the updated UI over time.

Other resources

Where can I find information about Copilot in other Microsoft products?

Microsoft offers Copilot experiences in many products, giving you AI-powered features that deliver tailored insights and intelligent solutions in a variety of scenarios. Find documentation, training, and other technical resources for Copilot in many Microsoft products here.

Latest updates

How can I stay up to date on the latest Copilot feature releases and updates?

More updates can be found in Release Notes.

Still have questions or want to offer feedback?

Try the Copilot discussion page on the Tech Community hub.