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Microsoft 365 Copilot Blog
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Announcing updates to Copilot for Microsoft 365 availability

TJ_Devine's avatar
TJ_Devine
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Dec 14, 2023

Today, we announced that Copilot for Microsoft 365 will be available to purchase for faculty and staff with Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 licenses beginning January 1, 2024. Also, starting in early February 2024, Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) will be available for all faculty users and Higher Education students who are 18 years or older. 

 

Copilot for Microsoft 365 available for Education faculty and staff 

Beginning on January 1, 2024, Copilot for Microsoft 365 will be generally available for Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 faculty for $30 per user per month with a 300-seat minimum per tenant. Copilot for Microsoft 365 combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your organization’s data – all in the flow of work – to turn your words into one of the most powerful productivity tools on the planet. We’re excited to bring generative AI to educational institution faculty and staff, benefitting their impactful work across research, communications, marketing, data analysis, fundraising, and management. 

 

Copilot inherits your organization’s security, compliance, and privacy policies set up in Microsoft 365. To learn more about Copilot for Microsoft 365, you can review documentation including requirements, setup, and information about privacy, security, and compliance.  

 

Educational institutions interested in purchasing Copilot for Microsoft 365 should contact their account teams.  

 

Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection available to faculty and higher education students  

We’re also excited to announce that beginning in early February we’re expanding availability of Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) to all faculty, staff, and higher education students age 18+ . Eligible users, when signed in with their Entra ID account, can access Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection from copilot.microsoft.com, bing.com/chat, or through Copilot in Microsoft Edge and Copilot in Windows. Copilot with commercial data protection means that data is protected, chat data is not saved, Microsoft has no eyes-on access to it, and it is not used to train foundation models. Learn more in this article.  

 

Get started 

Our education customers can start getting ready for Copilot now. Validate your educational institution type in the Microsoft 365 admin center, and indicate student eligibility in the Microsoft Entra admin center by updating the “Age Group” and “Consent Provided” fields. For more details on what you can do to prepare for Microsoft Copilot in your Education tenant, review this blog. 

 

To learn more about managing Copilot, including how to disable it, review this documentation. Admins will see the service plan attached to their user’s Microsoft 365 license in late January and rollout will begin in early February. 

 

For more information, read the full announcement. 

Updated Dec 14, 2023
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updates and announcements

18 Comments

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  • Jaspermvp's avatar
    Jaspermvp
    Copper Contributor
    Jan 09, 2024

    Could you transparently give an outlook when Copilot for 365 will be actually GA? (esp. SMB?) And also a hint of the pricing model? 

  • LennyFo's avatar
    LennyFo
    Copper Contributor
    Jan 01, 2024

    A small business will not only need a minimum of 300 users on E3 Office 365 at roughly $36 per user per month but you will also have to pay an additional $30 per user per month just to have access to copilot for Office 365.  This means to get access to Copilot for Office 365 at minimum you will need to cough up $237,600 annually.

     

    Essentially entry for use of this tech = $237,600 annually

     

    You better have deep pockets if you want access to modern day technology.

     

  • Sandra Bockstal's avatar
    Sandra Bockstal
    Copper Contributor
    Dec 30, 2023

    Upon reading your latest announcement about Copilot for Microsoft 365 being available for education, I feel compelled to express my disappointment and concerns. While I was initially excited about the potential of this technology for our faculty and staff, the reality of your offering is disheartening.

    The requirement of a minimum of 300 users per tenant and the price of $30 per user per month are staggering. I understand that Microsoft is a business, not a charity, but these conditions seem unrealistic and inaccessible for many educational institutions, including ours. It appears that this service is intended only for the 'happy few' and wealthier institutions, effectively excluding a large portion of your loyal customer base.

    If we are unable to access these tools due to such restrictive conditions, we are forced to consider alternatives such as Google's Bard, ChatGPT, and other Google apps. As a longstanding and loyal Microsoft user, it is regrettable that I must make this consideration, but the current strategy leaves us with no other choice.

    It is disappointing to see a company with such a rich history in supporting education and technology take such a route. I sincerely hope there will be a reconsideration of the accessibility and pricing of Copilot for Microsoft 365 for educational institutions.

     

    Kind regards,

    Sandra

  • pedromendonca's avatar
    pedromendonca
    Copper Contributor
    Dec 28, 2023

    Maybe private universities can buy, and even this ones doesn't have the budget. If there is lower education licensing prices for M365 why there isn´t for Copilot?

  • David Priebe's avatar
    David Priebe
    Brass Contributor
    Dec 15, 2023

    Would it be possible to clarify what licensing programs Microsoft 365 Copilot will be available through for education?  The fact that there is a 300 seat minimum as well as a reference for customers to connect with their account teams, points directly to Microsoft 365 Copilot only being available via Enterprise education level agreements, and not available via SMB oriented programs like CSP.  Again, any clarity on this would be greatly appreciated.

  • Tom Mitchell's avatar
    Tom Mitchell
    Copper Contributor
    Dec 15, 2023

    I'm sorry, but this pricing is insane.

     

    That's £85,000 a year for a school! We don't even have 300 users, so we would be buying double the licences we could actually use.

     

    Do away with the minimum seat requirements and you may actually get some customers. The price is ok. The seat requirements are not. Have you even thought about who your market is for this and what their budgets are like at the moment?