Apple Intelligence or Copilot for Microsoft 365? Do you have to pick one or the other…? Much of the industry are mostly about creating an epic battle between corporate giants. Emphasising choosing one or the other, and while there are sometimes reasons to choose a side, in this case at this point and in my opinion, this isn’t one of those times. Combining these technologies in your life can enhance your work and your home life in ways that we have only imagined before now. Apple is finally enhancing Siri, currently a useless voice assistant, by integrating it with machine learning across its entire ecosystem, making it now potentially the most important personal assistant we can have access too. This has now led to comparisons of Microsoft products like Copilot.
Apple Intelligence is focusing on enhancing user experiences across the Apple product ecosystem, integrating seamlessly with the approved hardware and latest operating systems. Providing personalised assistance and automations. Additional improvements to Siri will also include things like photo recognition and embedded security and privacy features.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 on the other hand aims to increase productivity, particularly in professional settings. Using GenAI to assist with drafting documents, analysing data, automating workflows, and more all within Microsoft 365 (M365) applications. In addition, integrating with open AI and ChatGPT and offering advanced search capabilities and image creation. I will be discussing this in more detail in future posts about Copilot specifically.
Here are a few things to consider about these two AI functions and how you can combine them to create powerful automations and workflows within your work and home productivity lives.
Starting with Apple and Microsoft working together. Copilot can automate many of the repetitive tasks that you do within M365. It also provides data insights, improve collaboration, and can make your daily operations more efficient. Apple Intelligence can automate across the Apple ecosystem and in how they connect to other things. Automating events in your personal life while simultaneously managing events in your work life, or even combining both to hand off and automate together. Start with the example in the presentation of checking if a work appointment will conflict with you making it to your daughter’s birthday party in time. It will check the meeting time, the start of the part, party location, and the driving time between them, it then tells you that you can make both in time. Another potential example is asking Siri to start a task by utilising M365 applications. ie “Siri create a presentation in PowerPoint using Copilot to pull the information for the presentation from this Word document” which can be done while you go do the school run. These examples highlight that you can use these systems as a personal assistant that integrates with work and home life.
The big elephant in the room is security and privacy. Apple made a lot of bold statements and commitments in this area of security and privacy being baked into the products and operating systems. Even as a big fan of Apple I would advise, as with all new technology, that it will only be proven when it has been launched and being used widely. It’s easy to make claims that are based on things working in a lab setting, but once you release it the public unexpected issues can emerge, and it veers off course, so I am advising to be cautiously optimistic.
I believe that Microsoft has kept its word on security and privacy for Copilot, which has been a game-changer for the corporate world since its launch in November of 2023. However, you should know that there are some glitches with identity management in Copilot, which can sometimes let users see things they shouldn’t within their organisation. Don’t panic, though, because the information is still locked down within your company’s network, so it won’t leak to the public or be used by other Gen AI organisations that don’t respect your data as much as Microsoft does. That’s a big win for Microsoft’s reputation. Also, this problem can be solved by improving your company’s identity environment. I’ll explain more about this in another blog/podcast/video, but for now, just remember that from a security perspective Microsoft spends Billion of dollars every year on developing it security products. This is another example of how Microsoft consumer products differ from the business products. On the consumer side, there are many examples out there, of failings, but they are beyond the scope of this blog post. My focus is on the business side, not the consumer side, of Microsoft. In my opinion the consumer side of GenAI is better covered and resolved, at least for now, by Apple, if they live up to their reputation.
The last topic I want to briefly address is cross-platform compatibility. Both ecosystems have stores, and so work with various third-party applications. Both have strict standards for implementing solutions within the stores and on how those applications interact with the systems to protect privacy, data, and users. While Microsoft can load software from other sources, most corporate IT locks down this capability for end users.
In conclusion, I wanted to show that Apple Intelligence and Copilot for Microsoft 365 can work together as a user’s dream team, enhancing both personal and professional experiences with AI and automation. Highlighting some of the capabilities, similarities, differences, and challenges of both systems, but this is one scratching the surface.
My content is focused on consumer brands & tech, and how to use them to enhance your professional life. Currently with a major focus on Apple and Microsoft, and ChatGPT. I am interested and excited to see what these companies will do once Apple Intelligence is fully release to the public this Autumn.
Today, I am fortunate to work with a company that allows me to spend my time with customers talking about the art of the possible and the future of AI and Low Code Automation. Advising them on where they can go with it, and what they can accomplish with it. If you want to engage further, please feel free to reach out and if you have time check out my other content as I have a website for blogs/podcasts and YouTube channel. Details are below if you are interested.
In final I leave you with a quote from a movie that saw the future almost 30 years ago!
“The future is now! Soon every American home will integrate their television phone and computer. You’ll be able to visit the Louvre on one channel, or watch female mud wrestling on another, you can do your shopping at home, or play Mortal Kombat with a friend in Vietnam”
The Cable Guy – 1996
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