Microsoft Copilot allows you to harness the power of AI to improve productivity, create summaries, generate images, and more. Several of Microsoft's AI products share the Copilot branding, but offer different features, security, availability and cost. Microsoft Copilot Chat is a full-fledged AI chat assistant available as part of Microsoft 365, while you can access work-grounded Copilot Premium in your Microsoft 365 apps .
| Feature | Copilot Website | Copilot Chat | Copilot Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Availability & access | |||
| Availability | Anyone Not recommended for use at UB. | Most at UB Included with UB’s MS365 license. | Faculty/Staff Separate Copilot Premium and Teams Premium license purchases required.(Login restricted to Faculty/Staff) |
| How to access | Web | Web | In-app + Portal MS365 portal |
| Appropriate for academic or work tasks | No | Yes With @buffalo.edu login. | Yes Use Work tab |
| MS365 integration | |||
| Access from within any MS365 app | No | No | Yes |
| Can access your MS365 email, Teams and Calendars (Microsoft Graph) data* | Yes Limited. Can access mailbox and calendar data. With @buffalo.edu login. | Yes Limited. With @buffalo.edu login. | Yes Automatically connects to 365 data, email, calendars, OneDrive and SharePoint. |
| Data & safety | |||
| Used to train AI data models | Yes | No With @buffalo.edu login. | No |
| Analyze uploaded files | Yes Only public data (Cat 3) should be uploaded to Copilot if you are not logged in with your @buffalo.edu credentials. | Yes | Yes |
| Answer questions using public and web-grounded (pulled live from the Internet)content | No | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise data protection | No | Yes With @buffalo.edu login. | Yes |
| Should be used with UB Restricted Data | No | No | No |
| Advanced features | |||
| Can use your Box data | No | No | No |
| Create Copilot Agents | No | Yes Limited to basic, non-persistent, on-demand agents. | Yes Full access to advanced agents with higher performance and better reasoning. |
| Task Automation | No | No | Yes |
| Document summarization and generation | Yes Only public data (Cat 3) should be uploaded to Copilot if you are not logged in with your @buffalo.edu credentials. | Yes Word, Excel, PowerPoint: Copilot Chat can use an uploaded file. Outlook: Copilot Chat can use your full inbox, calendar, meetings, and other enterprise data. | Yes Summarize documents and emails directly in app. |
| Data analysis and visualization (Excel) | Yes (uploaded files) Only public data (Cat 3) should be uploaded to Copilot if you are not logged in with your @buffalo.edu credentials. | Yes Only with an uploaded file. | Yes Analyze data, generate charts, create pivot tables, and provide insights based on trends and patterns in the data. |
| Email management (Outlook) | Yes Limited, scenario dependent. | Yes Limited to current open email thread. | Yes Summaries of unread messages, organization, drafting, follow‑ups. |
| Presentation creation (PowerPoint) | Yes Presentation creation only, not in app. | Yes Used for image creation, can recall active document chats and copy/paste into open document. | Yes Full slide creation, bullet generation, and narrative building. |
| Meeting summaries and notes from Microsoft Teams | No | Yes Basic interaction only. | Yes Can transcribe meetings, summarize discussions, highlight key points, and suggest action items. A Teams Premium license (Login restricted to Faculty/Staff) is needed for some features. |
* Performance may vary on mobile platforms
Q: Can I build, create, and publish for use AI agents or specialized AI tools that handle specific processes or solve business challenges, with UB-licensed Copilot?
A: At this time, UBIT is not supporting AI agents with Copilot, but advanced AI agents will be offered in the future.
Need help? Contact the UBIT Help Center or your departmental IT support.