Overview
Microsoft has two major generative AI products:
- Microsoft Copilot (previously Bing Chat)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot (also known as Copilot for Microsoft 365)
In this guide, we provide basic information about these two products.
Comparing Copilot and 365 Copilot
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot
What it is
Microsoft Copilot (previously Bing Chat) is a basic GenAI chatbot that you can interact with online.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a GenAI assistant embedded in Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.
It also includes an enhanced GenAI chatbot that you can interact with online with custom GPT options.
How to access it
Available for free to all USC users by signing in with a USC account at
https://copilot.microsoft.com.
Available for purchase by approved USC users through the DTS service catalog:
Accounts with the license can access the Copilot feature within Microsoft apps, and can access to the 365 Copilot chatbot when signed in at https://copilot.microsoft.com.
Approved data types
Public and internal data. If you need to work with confidential data, contact ts@dornsife.usc.edu.
Public and internal data. If you need to work with confidential data, contact ts@dornsife.usc.edu.
Microsoft Copilot (previously Bing Chat)
To access Copilot for free, sign in with your USC account at https://copilot.microsoft.com. Using your USC account ensures that enterprise data protection is applied to your conversations. This is indicated by a green shield 
icon that appears in the upper area of the conversation screen:
Microsoft 365 Copilot (aka Copilot for Microsoft 365)
You can purchase a license through the DTS service catalog:
Once the license is assigned to your USC account, select the Copilot icon or option in any Microsoft app to use Copilot. For example, this is how the Copilot feature appears in Microsoft Word:
(Image source)
To access 365 Copilot through the web, sign in with your USC account at https://copilot.microsoft.com. While this is the same link as the free version of Copilot, Microsoft will recognize your license and you will be using the advanced paid version of Copilot, which appears as an icon in the menu on the left and has the ability to create custom agents (upper right):
A green shield icon appears in the upper area of the conversation screen to confirm that enterprise data protection is applied to your conversations.
According to ITS, Microsoft 365 Copilot uses existing organizational data (for instance, data located in OneDrive, SharePoint, and Exchange) to provide context-aware responses, but does not expose content outside USC's compliance boundaries.
Use Cases
There are countless ways that you can use 365 Copilot in your University work, including:
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Content Creation: Draft course materials, lesson plans, presentations, research papers, and lecture notes
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Writing Assistance: Review essays and suggest improvements in grammar, structure, and clarity; provide feedback; update essay tone, style, and voice
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Summarization: Summarize academic articles, research papers, and book chapters
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Translation: Translate text between over 25 languages
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Organizing Email: Summarize email conversation threads and prioritize emails
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Data Analysis: Analyze and visualize data in Excel
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Meeting Optimization (via Teams): Organize meeting agendas, summarize discussions, capture action items, and provide relevant information in real time
Additional resources
The following information is available from ITS: