Bing with ChatGPT is now Copilot — what it means for you

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In the short run, not much!

Bing with ChatGPT
(Image credit: Microsoft)

If you've been using Bing with ChatGPT regularly, get ready for things to look a little different as Microsoft moves forward with plans to rebrand it as Copilot.

This is significant because it suggests Microsoft has found its broad branding strategy for the ChatGPT-powered services it's been rolling out all year. However, it's hardly surprising. 

Bing with ChatGPT becoming Copilot, supposedly

While the Copilot rebranding was announced today (November 15), it doesn't appear as though anyone told Bing with ChatGPT yet. (Image credit: Future)

"We are taking the next step to simplify the user experience and make copilot more accessible to everyone," reads an excerpt of the Microsoft blog post published today (November 15) to kick off Microsoft's Ignite conference. "Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise will now simply become Copilot."

So if you're a regular Bing with ChatGPT user, you shouldn't expect too much to change when the branding shifts. You'll still be able to access and chat with Copilot, and it will still be able to access the Internet to answer questions and perform searches. 

As you can see, Microsoft is positioning Bing with ChatGPT Copilot as the free entry-level introduction to its Microsoft 365 Copilot service. (Image credit: Microsoft)

From here on out, it'll just be known as Copilot—and it seems Microsoft is positioning it as sort of the "free" tier of Microsoft 365 Copilot, the business-grade version which costs $30/month per user and offers additional features like better data protection, access to Microsoft 365 apps and the new Copilot Studio, a low-code tool for making your own Copilot chatbots.

Outlook

Bing with ChatGPT officially becoming an extension of Copilot shouldn't cause any serious shifts in the way you use it. What it will cause, in the long run, is a shift in the way we think about search engines from tools we use to extensions used by the tools we use—because the tools we use are going to become "smart" enough to do their own work, in Microsoft's vision of the future.

I say that because if you dig into the blog post linked above there's additional details about other implementations of Copilot that are less relevant to most of us because they're future applications for business and enterprise use. I'm talking about tricks like having Copilot sit in on Teams meetings as an assistant who can take notes and quotes, or as a ghostwriter who can write Outlook emails that sound like you wrote them.

So while this name change isn't a huge deal, the shift to Copilot presages a broader shift in the way we talk about and think about work. You might feel silly saying you're going to check Copilot for directions to the doctor's office, for example, but Microsoft is hoping it's soon going to feel natural to ask Copilot to take notes, draft emails, suggest code snippets and run profitability calculations. 

But it's still early days for this tech, and it remains to be seen how good or useful it will be. 

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Alex Wawro
Alex Wawro
Senior Editor Computing

Alex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more than a decade of experience covering both for outlets like Game Developer, Black Hat, and PC World magazine. A lifelong PC builder, he currently serves as a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering all things computing, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice.