Microsoft’s Copilot can now browse the web and perform actions for you

Summary

For its 50th birthday, Microsoft is teaching its AI-powered Copilot chatbot a few new tricks. Copilot can now take action on “most websites,” Microsoft says, enabling it to book tickets, reserve restaurants, and more. The bot has gained the ability to remember specific things about you, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, like your favorite food and films. And it can now analyze real-time video from your phone, answering questions in the context of what it “sees.” The upgrades come as Microsoft is reportedly mulling a revamp of Copilot, which has historically been powered by AI models from OpenAI, with more of its own in-house technology. Copilot has often lagged behind rivals ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, which in recent months have only ramped up the pace of feature rollouts. As of Friday, Copilot can complete tasks on the web along the lines of how “agentic” tools like OpenAI’s Operator do it. Microsoft says it partnered with 1-800-Flowers.com, Booking.com, Expedia, Kayak, OpenTable, Priceline, Tripadvisor, Skyscanner, Viator, and Vrbo for day-one compatibility. Enter a prompt — e.g. “send a bouquet to my partner” — and Copilot will attempt to check that particular to-do item off your list. Taking a page from search engine Perplexity’s book, Copilot can also now track online deals for you. Tell the bot to look for price drops and sales on an item, and it’ll notify you when they happen — and present you with a link to buy. Just how well Copilot performs various chores isn’t clear. Microsoft gave few details on how the capability works, and, unlike some of its competitors, didn’t publish data indicating areas where Copilot might struggle or need a human to intervene. Presumably, it’s possible for websites to block Copilot, too, just as they’re able to block OpenAI’s Operator. A company might do so if it’s worried, for instance, that fewer people visiting its app directly could hurt its ad revenue. Image Credits:Microsoft Fortunately, Copilot’s other new features are less n...