Microsoft's latest AI chatbot, Microsoft Copilot, is now available for download for iOS and iPadOS. If you want to tinker with another AI tool, both are available for free download from the App Store right now.

Microsoft Copilot (originally known as Bing Chat) is very similar to ChatGPT and other chatbots scattered around the web. You type in a prompt, whether it be a question or a request for help writing an email or summary, and it spits out what you need; Copilot can also generate images from text, thanks to its integration with DALL-E3, which generates images from text.

Interestingly, Copilot can run GPT-4. This is software that allows AI to generate human-like responses and accept both text and image input. For reference, the free version of ChatGPT currently uses GPT-3.5.

This is not the only difference between the two. Microsoft Copilot limits the number of responses a user can make in a thread to about 30. In addition, users cannot access image generation without creating an account. However, while testing both, Copilot seemed willing to give much longer answers to each question I provided; ChatGPT seemed to provide more human answers and did not feel like I was simply searching the web for answers.

Currently, Copilot does not save threads and does not appear to allow uploading of files other than photos. However, this is a big improvement over ChatGPT, where analyzing photos is more complicated than it needs to be.

We did not see a significant difference in speed using either app; both Copilot and ChatGPT were quick to respond, but ChatGPT was slightly faster. Finally, I asked both to compose an email to keep in touch with distant friends. Microsoft Copilot responded with a template filled with options to help personalize a response from me, while ChatGPT offered no alternative options, but had better organization.

At this point, both apps seem to have their advantages, but there is nothing in Apple's product to help push either out. The biggest obstacle for Copilot is the limitation of answers, but this may change in the future as the use of this app increases.