[IT동아 권택경 기자] Microsoft has added a co-pilot feature to its web browser Edge. Copilot is a kind of artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. It utilizes Prometheus, an AI based on OpenAI’s large-scale language model GPT-4. Microsoft, which first announced that it would add co-pilot to Edge in February, provided a preview to some users and recently officially released the function.
You can use it by clicking the Bing icon in the upper right corner of Co-Pilot Edge in Edge to bring up the sidebar. Basically, it provides three functions: chat, compose, and know ahead.
The ‘chat’ feature is similar to the AI chatbot available on Bing. If you have any questions, you can ask the AI instead of searching, or you can ask to write a simple article. The biggest difference from the AI chatbot available on Bing is that you can ask questions about the web page you are viewing. For example, you can ask for a summary of what you are currently watching.
On some webpages, when you turn on the chatbot, you can summarize the key points first before asking. When I opened the chatbot while reading an article from overseas media, I was able to see how it summarized the content on its own. Unfortunately, it did not work in domestic media articles. Of course, even if you don’t tell us first, you can directly request ‘Create page takeaway’. It helps you quickly get to the point when reading long texts or news articles.
‘Ahead’ is a tab that tells you simple information about the website you’re currently viewing. If you are accessing Naver, it informs you of the Wikipedia description of Naver, traffic rankings, monthly traffic increase and decrease trends, traffic sources by country, and major visit routes.
The ‘write’ function can be said to be the most core function of Edge Copilot. After entering a topic, specifying the tone (tone), format, and length, create a draft and it will create an appropriate text. This is a feature that can be used when writing articles on the web, such as blog posts or emails. You can also paste the draft created in this way directly into the input window by clicking ‘Add Site’.
OK for simple use, fine for professional use
When I actually used the writing function, it seemed that even if it wasn’t perfect, it could be used for simple purposes in real life or at work. After entering ‘meeting postponement request’ as the subject, setting the tone as casual, the format as e-mail, and the length as short, and creating a draft, the following result came out.
hello. I will not be able to attend the meeting scheduled for 2:00 PM today. I have to postpone the meeting because of some urgent matter. sorry. Can we reschedule the meeting for next Monday or Tuesday? I would appreciate it if you could let me know the available time slot. Answers I’ll wait. thank you
Of course, as it is randomly generated, the details will have to be modified to suit the circumstances, but it is a level that can be used sufficiently with a little modification. If you are new to society and are not used to writing business emails, you can use the draft written by the co-pilot to overcome the frustration of writing from a blank page.
What about relatively long articles like blog posts? Blog posts are also written in a snap, but the loopholes of AI are more prominent than e-mails with relatively simple content. For example, the ‘hallucination phenomenon’, which speaks false information unique to AI as fact, appeared intact.
For example, when a draft was created with the theme of predicting the European Champions League champions this year, errors were found everywhere, such as introducing Ronaldo, who has now moved to Saudi Arabia, as the striker of his former team, or citing a team that was eliminated early as a candidate for the championship.
Even with the same theme, when the tone is set to ‘fun’, this hallucination phenomenon is more prominent. At all, he even made up the fact that there was no such thing as ‘Messi returned to Barcelona’. This seems to be because they prioritize creativity and fluency rather than accuracy of answers. Therefore, if the accuracy of the content is required, it seems necessary to choose a more gentle tone such as ‘expert’ rather than ‘fun’.
Microsoft plans to introduce Co-Pilot to Microsoft 365, similar to the one introduced in Edge this time. Co-pilot means investigation of edema in the dictionary. It is a name to emphasize that it does not replace a person, but serves as a helper by the side. When using Co-Pilot, it seems important to clearly recognize these roles and limitations.
Written by IT Donga Kwon Taek-gyeong ([email protected])