It"s clear that Microsoft is going all in on its Copilot initiative. Just a few hours ago, it announced the general availability of Security Copilot in Entra. Now, it has revealed that Microsoft 365 Copilot is finally getting the ability to memorize things about you in a big boost to personalization.
As you may already know, the Copilot app in Windows already has memory capabilities, but this feature is now expanding to the Microsoft 365 Copilot variant too. Microsoft believes that this will make its AI assistant smarter and more useful for you. Similar to the capability present already in ChatGPT, memories in Copilot will allow the assistant to remember important details about you, such as your preferences and favorite topics to converse about.
Basically, two new features are being enabled in this area. The first is related to Copilot Memory, as discussed above already. The second is Custom Instructions, which enables customers to set up a baseline prompt that guides the AI about how it should respond to you in future conversations. For example, you could ask it to be more witty, concise, or even talkative. These instructions can be written in natural language.
Microsoft believes that together, both of these functionalities will reduce repetitive inputs, streamline conversations, and increase personalization. For example, you could even ask Copilot to always generate images in a certain size, and it will follow your instructions thanks to Copilot Memory.
There are a few more things left to understand about Copilot Memory. For starters, users will always be informed through a subtle message that Copilot has remembered something about them. Secondly, you can view, modify, and delete specific memories through the Settings page. Finally, you can turn off Copilot Memory altogether, especially if you don"t like a service implicitly remembering things about you.
Microsoft will begin rolling out Copilot Memory in Microsoft 365 Copilot this month and it will be turned on by default. Individual tenants have the ability to disable it, and so do admins - both organization-wide and for specific users. Memory data can also be audited through Purview eDiscovery.