Copilot from a User's Perspective #2 — Types of Copilot and How to Choose

 I'm a native Chinese speaker, and my English isn't strong enough to write an entire article from scratch. So I had Copilot Tasks translate this piece for me. If you find it reads smoothly — well, that's a testament to what Tasks can do.

This is the second article in my Copilot from a User's Perspective series, focusing on the different types of Copilot. After reading the first article, if Copilot caught your interest, you're probably wondering: with so many Copilots everywhere, what's the difference between them? Are they actually useful? Are they really worth your time?

By the end of this article, you should have a much clearer picture of how to think about the different Copilot experiences.

There are a LOT of Copilot variants out there. I first started using Copilot on March 6th, and since then I've tried virtually every Copilot experience available to me (I'm a Microsoft 365 Premium subscriber). As of May 1st, my conversations have exceeded 9 million Chinese characters（including both my inputs and AI responses across all Copilot surfaces）. So I'll take the liberty of offering my own user-perspective classification of the current Copilot landscape.

I believe the AI tools we regularly interact with can be broadly divided into four categories: Chat AI, Tool AI, Search Engine AI, and Agent AI.

In my view, AI's core value lies in working alongside humans to boost productivity — and that's the lens through which I built this classification.

One important caveat: due to account permissions and the nature of my work, I haven't had the chance to try the Windows system sidebar Copilot, GitHub Copilot, or Copilot Studio.

Quick Analogies

Before diving in, here's how I think about each type:

• Chat AI — A knowledgeable, quick-thinking colleague who's a bit too talkative and not great at actually doing things. Great for brainstorming, but the moment hands-on work is needed, they vanish.

• Tool AI — The notebook, sketchpad, and toolbox sitting on your desk. Specialized for specific tasks, with minimal conversation ability.

• Search Engine AI — A filing cabinet that organizes your scattered documents so you can find things faster.

• Agent AI — The most powerful and practical of all. A knowledgeable, sharp-thinking assistant who doesn't ramble and can actually get things done for you.

Chat AI

Where you'll find it: Web-based Copilot (copilot.microsoft.com), Edge sidebar Copilot, and the chat panels within M365 apps.

What it does: This is the most popular, most accessible, and lowest-barrier type of AI. Chat AI typically can't take action on its own — the most it can do is generate images for you (though M365 Copilot Chat can also create files in Microsoft formats like Word documents and PowerPoint presentations). But don't underestimate it. You can ask it to check the weather, or have it research topics across the web — for example: "What are the most popular conversational AI tools on the market right now, and how are they reviewed?"

My take: I've settled on the web-based Copilot as my primary chat AI. In my experience, M365 Copilot feels narrower in its reasoning — its responses are more conservative and contained, while the web version is more open and expansive. You can clearly sense they come from different design philosophies. One notable thing about M365 Copilot is that it integrates your conversation history across all M365 tools, suggesting that all the chat experiences within M365 share the same underlying foundation.

Web-based Copilot (copilot.microsoft.com)

Tool AI

Where you'll find it: Copilot embedded in Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and other M365 applications.

What it does: This type of AI is far more powerful than you'd expect. How much value you get from it depends entirely on how well you understand the underlying tools and how creatively you use the AI within them. With Copilot's help, my Excel productivity has improved by at least 70%. I'll dedicate an upcoming article specifically to using Copilot in Excel.

My take: Incredibly powerful and massively underestimated. Stay tuned — I'll be showing you how to use these in future articles.

Copilot in Excel

Search Engine AI

Where you'll find it: Copilot integrated into Edge's search experience (Bing AI).

What it does: Its primary function is summarizing your search results. You might not even notice it's there, because it doesn't present itself as a conversation — it simply provides a summary alongside your results. You think you haven't given it any instructions, but the moment you type something into the search bar and hit Enter, it's already at work.

There's not much to choose here — search engine AI is tied directly to your browser. Nobody switches browsers just for an AI summary feature, and the quality of its output depends entirely on what it finds. If the search results are noisy, the summary will be noisy too. So don't overthink this one — and certainly don't abandon a browser you're comfortable with just because a competitor added this feature.

My take: The good news is that search engine AI is usually free — it's essentially a feature enhancement that search engines build into their browsers. That said, some AI-native search engines like Perplexity offer a noticeably better experience. Overall, this is a category where we can sit back, let the companies compete, and enjoy the improvements.

Copilot integrated into Edge's search experience (Bing AI).

Agent AI

Where you'll find it: Copilot Tasks (on web-based Copilot) and Office Agents (in M365 Copilot).

What it does: This type of AI goes far beyond a chat window. It connects to your email, calendar, browser, cloud storage, and other tools. Think of it as an AI that doesn't just talk with you — it takes action. Tell it "Check my meeting schedule for tomorrow and send a reminder email to my colleagues," and it will open your calendar, draft the email, and send it — instead of handing you a block of text and leaving you to do the work yourself.

Tasks can even run in the background. Close the page and go about your day — it will notify you when it's done. For example, I've set up Copilot Tasks to automatically compile and send a daily report (with content I define) and to gather competitive analysis based on my requirements.

That said, today's agent AI is more like an intern you need to keep an eye on than a seasoned employee you can fully trust. But even so, it's a massive leap forward from chat AI — at least it's willing to roll up its sleeves.

My take: Choosing an agent AI is much more complex than choosing a chat AI, because an agent's core value isn't about how well it talks — it's about what it can connect to and what it can do. Agent AI is the category most worth learning about right now. Tool AI excels at specific points; agent AI covers the entire surface (though in certain vertical domains, tool AI may still deliver a better experience). It's the only category that's genuinely changing how humans and AI work together.

I had Tasks run a competitive analysis for me and deliver the results as a Word document.

This category is still young, and the experience isn't fully polished yet. When choosing, don't focus on which one feels the most mature — focus on which one fits your workflow. Even if someone told me Google's AI experience is the best, I still wouldn't abandon my Microsoft ecosystem.

Closing Thoughts

These are the four types of AI tools as I see them from a user's perspective. Chat AI is the quickest to try. Tool AI gives you the most tangible sense of how AI is changing the way we work. But if you're willing to invest time in learning and adapting, agent AI can deliver productivity gains that the other three categories simply can't match.

I'll also be publishing a Tasks guide in the future (assuming you have access to it). Trust me — you'll be amazed at what Tasks can do.

Next up: AI Tutorial — Surpass 90% of Excel Users in 5 Minutes