Microsoft has launched Copilot AI chatbot to automate routine tasks for financiers

Jordan Novet/CNBC

Microsoft has announced the release of Copilot, a chatbot focused on automating typical tasks for finance professionals. The tool will be available for testing in a public pre-release version, with pricing details coming later.

Here's What We Know

According to Microsoft vice president Charles Lamanna, the company is looking to bring artificial intelligence capabilities to every part of organisations following the success of general-purpose chatbots. Copilot for finance professionals will initially be able to analyse outliers in data, reconcile figures in Excel and speed up information gathering in Outlook. And it will be able to work with data from popular enterprise systems SAP and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Microsoft noted that their own finance department has already tried Copilot and confirmed that it can save up to several hours a week on routine tasks thanks to automation from AI. Japanese advertising agency Dentsu will also be a partner in the implementation of the chatbot.

The aim of Microsoft's new solution is to free up financiers' time from tedious standard work so they can focus on more important strategic tasks and add value to the business. The full-fledged launch of the revamped Copilot for finance is expected by the end of 2024.

Source: CNBC