In November 2023, OpenAI announced plans to release GPTs, custom chatbots based on the company"s ChatGPT. Today, Microsoft announced its own plans to offer custom AI chatbots tailored to specific needs and topics.
As part of today"s many Copilot announcements, including Copilot Pro and the expansion of Copilot for Microsoft 365, the company also announced Copilot GPTs. Like OpenAI"s GPTs, Copilot GPTs will allow users to "customize the behavior of Microsoft Copilot on a topic that is of particular interest to you."
Microsoft added that it will offer up a number of previously created custom Copilot GPTs starting today. They will be able to answer questions from users on topics like fitness, travel, and cooking.
As part of the features that will be enabled for people who pay $20 a month to access the Copilot Pro service, those subscribers will be able to make their own custom Copilot GPTs. Microsoft plans to launch a new app called Copilot GPT Builder, which is made specifically for these kinds of tasks.
So far, Microsoft has not revealed anything more about how Pro users will be able to make their own chatbots with Copilot GPT Builder, saying only, "Stay tuned for more on this experience as we get closer to availability." There"s no word on what the app itself will be like, how easy or hard it will be to use, and what platform or platforms it will support.
When OpenAI announced GPTs, it also revealed that users would be able to share their custom chatbots with the rest of the world via the GPT store. That store finally launched last week, and OpenAI indicated that later in the first quarter of 2024, creators of those custom chatbots would be able to get some revenue if people actually used their custom GPTs. Microsoft has yet to announce plans to offer a similar revenue path for custom Copilot GPTs.