Microsoft unveils integrated Copilot AI chatbot, says it can aid with financial tasks

Feb. 29 (UPI) -- Microsoft on Thursday announced that it is releasing a finance version of its Copilot AI chatbot to augment its Microsoft 365 programs.

"Microsoft is introducing a solution to help finance teams reclaim time and stay on top of the critical decisions that can impact business performance," Microsoft said in a press release Thursday.

The new Copilot system will be integrated into Microsoft Excel, Microsoft teams and Microsoft Outlook.

The company says the system will help "automate costly and time-intensive operational tasks."

"Microsoft Copilot for Finance is a new Copilot experience for Microsoft 365 that unlocks AI-assisted competencies for financial professionals, right from within productivity applications they use every day," Microsoft said.

The company says Copilot can suggest edits and pull data from across financial systems and detect variances.

"Copilot for Finance can streamline audits by pulling and reconciling data with a single prompt," Microsoft said.

The Copilot AI system is already integrated into Microsoft's Edge search engine.

Microsoft says the Copilot for Finance feature is currently available as a public preview.