What is a copilot?
A copilot is an assistant that works next to you inside a tool, drafting or suggesting while you stay in charge of the file. It is a pattern. Microsoft Copilot is a product family that uses the word. Other products use it too. The pattern is not a promise about any one vendor's features.
In plain English
You are still the one who files, sends, or saves. The copilot offers a sentence, a formula, or a summary in the place you are already working. An agent that goes off and finishes the job overnight is a different pattern. If you want Microsoft's product specifically, use the product page, not this definition. Use it inside the file you were going to edit anyway. Ask for a suggestion, then keep your hands on the save button. If the sidebar wants permission to send mail or read the whole drive, stop and shrink the permission. The brand name on the sidebar is a vendor. The habit you want is a person who still owns the sentence.
How an owner would use it
Turn a copilot on in one app you already live in. Keep it on draft and suggestion. Do not grant it send rights just because the sidebar is convenient. Check the vendor's current plan before you assume it is included.
Common mistakes
Searching 'copilot' and buying the first product with that name gets you a specific vendor's bundle, not the pattern. Assuming a copilot cannot send mail is unsafe. Some can, if you connect mail. Read the permission screen. Do not paste a full customer list into a sidebar to 'clean it up' without knowing where that sidebar stores data.
A worked example
A window cleaner
The route note is suggested inside the doc
This is an illustration, not a customer result. The owner writes Friday's route in the same doc as always. A copilot in that doc suggests a shorter note from the bullets already on the page. The owner deletes a sentence about a building they are not servicing. They save the doc. Nothing is texted automatically.
Related terms
Prompts and guides
Questions owners ask
What is a copilot?
A copilot is an in-app assistant that suggests or drafts while a person still completes the job. It is a pattern, and it is also a brand name several vendors use.
How do I tell a copilot from an agent?
A copilot sits beside the work you are doing. An agent is set up to take steps when you are not in the file. The same product may offer both. Judge the permissions, not the label.
Is Microsoft Copilot the only copilot?
No. Microsoft Copilot is one product line. Other apps use the same word for a sidebar assistant. Read the product's own page before you compare prices or features.
Product guides are on AI apps for business.