Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s generative AI assistant. It combines large language models (LLMs), enterprise data protection and grounding from web data to help users find information, create content and complete tasks.

UW–⁠Madison offers two versions of Copilot:

1. Microsoft Copilot Chat: free for all students, faculty and staff
2. Microsoft Copilot Premium: an extra license that departments can purchase for faculty and staff use

You are responsible for following UW–⁠Madison and Universities of Wisconsin policies when using Copilot and other generative AI services. No one is required to use AI tools.

• Generative AI use & policies
• Generative AI and cybersecurity

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Copilot Chat

Copilot Chat is free for all UW–⁠Madison students, faculty and staff. When you sign in with your NetID, you get enterprise data protection, which means Microsoft doesn’t use what you enter to train its AI models. Copilot Chat works with web searches and files you upload.

Features

• Enterprise data protection, meaning Microsoft won’t use what you enter to train its AI models
• AI chatbot
• Copilot Pages: a collaborative workspace for building and refining content with AI
• File uploads, so you can work with your materials, data and notes
• Text and image generation
• Web search for current information
• Chat history and conversation management
• Mobile app on iOS and Android

Available to

• All UW–⁠Madison students, faculty and staff

Requirements

• UW–⁠Madison NetID

Pricing

• Free to all UW–⁠Madison users

Getting started

• On the web: Visit copilot.cloud.microsoft and sign in with your NetID.
• Copilot app: Available for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
• Inside Microsoft apps: You can also open Copilot Chat in Outlook, Teams and Microsoft Edge.

Copilot Premium

Copilot Premium (formerly Microsoft 365 Copilot) is an individual license that adds more AI capabilities to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. It works with your email, calendar, chats and files in OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams, and it can see only content you already have access to.

Sensitive data, including student data protected by FERPA, requires review before you use it with Copilot Premium. Learn more about data classification.

Features

• Everything in Copilot Chat: web search, file uploads, Copilot Pages and image generation
• Built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote
• Email and calendar access to help you summarize long emails, draft messages and manage your schedule
• Summaries, action items and answers about what was said in Teams meetings
• Chat with your work email and files without needing to upload them
• Agents built by Microsoft, including Researcher for in-depth research, Planner Agent for managing projects and tasks, Learning for building your AI skills and Analyst for working with data
• AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI, or let Copilot choose one for you
• Copilot Notebooks: gather files, notes and chats about a project in one place and ask Copilot about them

Available to

• UW–⁠Madison faculty and staff with a paid appointment

Requirements

• A license your department buys with department funds
• Completion of the Data@UW training on data governance and responsible use before you use the tool

Pricing

• $201.36 per license per year ($16.78 per month)
• Licenses run from Nov. 1 through Oct. 31 each year. If you order midway through a license year, you will be charged only for the days remaining in the term.

Getting started

1. Order licenses through the Departmental Software Order Form in the Campus Software Library. You’ll need your DoIT Billing Customer ID. Department contacts can order licenses in bulk and assign them to individual employees by NetID.
2. Allow about two weeks from order to license delivery.
3. Complete the required Data@UW online training program on data governance and responsible use.
4. Install the Copilot app on your work devices and sign in with your NetID.

Available to

• Faculty
• Researchers
• Staff
• Students

Service category

• Endpoint computing