It’s a decision many businesses are facing: Microsoft Copilot Pro vs ChatGPT. Is Microsoft Copilot Pro worth the cost? The short answer is yes. However, Artificial Intelligence becomes a more practical business tool, it’s essential to understand the differences between different services.
ChatGPT is probably the best-known Large Language Model (LLM), and Microsoft has invested in OpenAI, its parent company. However, Microsoft’s LLM product, Copilot, is fundamentally different to OpenAI’s.
In this blog, we’ll compare ChatGPT Plus with Microsoft Copilot Pro, the two offerings most businesses might consider.
Despite its slightly higher cost, we believe Copilot Pro will be the best choice for most businesses. The critical difference between the two is that Copilot integrates with your company’s internal data, making it a much more effective and secure tool in three main ways:
- Data: Copilot Pro’s access to your Microsoft 365 environment means it can deliver business-relevant outputs.
- Copyright: it seems you can’t copyright ChatGPT output; Microsoft claims no copyright on Copilot output.
- Security: ChatGPT prompts and outputs are public; Copilot doesn’t use your data to train its LLMs, keeping it private instead.
Let’s look more closely.
Copilot Pro securely accesses your data
Because Copilot Pro can access your data, it can find files and information on your Sharepoint, OneDrive, Teams, Outlook and other sources. This access means it can create content, customer service responses and even code that properly reflects your organisation’s branding, activities, products and more. ChatGPT, on the other hand, is a more generic tool.
Copilot can, for example, summarise your Teams meetings, draft policy documents in Word, create PowerPoint presentations and manipulate Excel data. That alone can be a significant boost to your team’s productivity.
However, at an organisational level, the benefits are even more significant. By integrating with your data, you can generate other documentation, such as sales reports, product descriptions, customer service responses, computer code and more – all of which will properly reflect your organisation’s unique values, offerings, language and approach.
Copilot Pro protects your copyright
Copyright and AI are generally evolving areas of law, so it’s hard to make definitive statements. However, ChatGPT’s output most likely can’t be copyrighted as it’s not ‘original work’. It’ll also be used to train the LLM further, so you have no control over how your outputs might be used or where they might turn up. ChatGPT’s terms of service place all copyright compliance responsibilities on the user.
Microsoft, on the other hand, claims no copyright over Copilot’s output. It’s unclear whether you can claim copyright over its output, but Microsoft said it will help defend any customers accused of copyright infringement.
Copilot Pro is secure by design
Entering customer and other private or proprietary data into ChatGPT may seem like a good idea, as this would help it deliver more relevant outputs. However, as noted, ChatGPT trains itself on all prompts entered, meaning your privacy is sacrificed.
On the other hand, Copilot Pro connects its LLM to your business data ‘in a secure, compliant, privacy-preserving way’.
Specifically, it doesn’t use customer data to train LLMs: ‘your data is accessible only by authorized users within your organisation unless you explicitly consent to other access or use’.
Copilot Pro vs ChatGPT: Final thoughts
While we firmly believe that Copilot Pro is a better choice than ChatGPT Plus in most cases, we don’t believe you should simply subscribe and be done with it. As with any software tool, it has particular use cases, and you should consider them carefully.
If your business uses Microsoft 365 and wants an LLM solution that integrates with your ecosystem, then Copilot Pro will likely be an excellent choice.
However, we should note that the AI scene is changing fast, and you may need to adapt your business somewhat to unlock the full value of whatever solution you deploy. Your best bet is to get in touch with us for an obligation-free discussion about how you can take full advantage of your existing technology stack and whether Copilot Pro has a place within it.