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Copilot Premium

Microsoft has released several versions of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Two versions are available at the university:

  • Copilot Chat is provided by the university to all faculty, staff and students at Ohio State. In addition to the information provided on our Copilot Chat service page, you can learn more about its capabilities on Microsoft’s site to see if you can perform the same task in Copilot Chat before you decide you need Copilot Premium for an extra cost.
  • Copilot Premium (Full License) is available for an additional licensing fee to faculty and staff at the university. This is at an extra cost to your college/department, and it will need to be acquired, approved and ordered through your department. The additional licensing allows Microsoft 365 Copilot to access your applications, combining the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data—all in the flow of work—to turn your words into one of the most powerful productivity tools on the planet.

 

Access and Usage

Medical Center Employees Access Note

Medical Center employees will need to contact all 3 of the following OSUMC staff to enable Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium: 

Carey Langston (Carey.Langston@osumc.edu)
DeVante Edgerton (DeVante.Edgerton@osumc.edu)
James Boucher (James.Boucher@osumc.edu). 

 

Getting Your License

There is a process in place for areas to purchase licenses for users or a group of users. It is complicated by licensing constraints, as Microsoft's preference for institution-wide agreements limits our flexibility for small group or individual license purchases. Please see the How to Purchase Additional Microsoft Licensing guide for steps to complete this process.

If you purchase Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium, you’ll soon begin to see the Copilot experience across your Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams after your license has been acquired and pushed to your account. The Copilot icons and features will appear anywhere from within a few minutes to within a few hours. To speed things up, we recommend restarting your apps and signing out and back in, if needed. Full access to your Microsoft 365 data, such as files, emails and chats, through Copilot’s intelligent prompts may take a little longer to fully propagate, typically within 24 hours. This ensures Copilot can securely access the content you already have permission to view. If you don’t see Copilot right away, don’t worry—it’s on the way!

Renewing Your License

Once a license has been purchased, you will not need to submit a new purchase order (PO) in Workday when your license comes up for renewal. When the Microsoft Agreement year ends, typically in the April/May timeframe, renewal notices will be sent to the individuals who submitted the original POs. At that time, they’ll be asked whether they would like to renew their license(s) for the upcoming year. A new PO is NOT required in Workday for these renewals—renewals will be processed using the existing PO unless changes are needed.

Using Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium

Because Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium has access to your applications and data, you can use two built-in agents for this version of Copilot: Researcher and Analyst. They are designed to extend the value of Copilot by supporting more advanced tasks. Both agents are pre-pinned in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app and allow up to 25 combined queries per month. 

  • Researcher acts like a research assistant, designed to support complex, multi-step projects.
  • Analyst functions more like a data scientist, using chain-of-thought reasoning to explore and analyze data. 

Here are a few links you can visit to learn more about using your Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium: 

Microsoft Copilot Chat icon

Training

Security

While Microsoft 365 Copilot provides various features to help ensure that it is giving accurate answers, it is important for users to employ a “trust but verify” approach with AI technologies.

Visit the Responsible Use page of the Artificial Intelligence at Ohio State site fore more security considerations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium (Full License)?

Microsoft Copilot is a digital assistant that uses AI to help you with your work. It is available in two versions: Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium.

  • Copilot Chat is a chatbot that uses public online data to provide you with information. It does not have access to your organization’s data or content within Microsoft 365, such as documents in OneDrive, SharePoint, emails or other data in Microsoft 365.
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium is a paid version of Copilot that uses four technologies to generate its natural language. It utilizes the web, large language models (LLMs) and your data in Microsoft 365 services, but it goes one step further by fully integrating into Microsoft 365 applications, such as Word and PowerPoint.
Why can't I see Copilot inside of my Microsoft applications?

To use Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat features in desktop applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote, users must have Microsoft 365 apps installed and be on either the Current Channel or the Monthly Enterprise Channel. These update channels ensure access to the latest features, including Copilot Chat integration. If you are a MITS customer, you are on the Current Channel or the Monthly Enterprise Channel. Some non-MITS units have installed Microsoft 365 using a method called device-based or using a volume licensed key method. If that is the case, you will not see Copilot Chat within the desktop applications. 

In addition, users must also be signed into their Microsoft 365 desktop apps using their organizational Ohio State campus login of lastname.#@osu.edu or lastname.#@buckeyemail.osu.edu. Copilot Chat is only supported on primary mailboxes hosted in Exchange Online, and not on shared, delegate or archive mailboxes. For full functionality, you should have an active OneDrive account, as some Copilot Chat features rely on OneDrive for file access and management. 

Should I be using AI?

New AI tools are released daily, and university technology teams evaluate these tools to ensure they are accessible, secure and effective. Faculty and staff should ensure they are logged in with their university credentials if they plan to enter institutional data that is above S1-classified data into an approved AI tool. Learn more about institutional data classifications as they relate to AI in the Security and Privacy Statement on Artificial Intelligence statement.

Students should use Generative AI tools for coursework only with the explicit permission of each instructor, in the ways allowed by that instructor. For an overview of all available AI tools, visit Ohio State’s Approved AI Tools.

What is AI Hallucination?

AI "hallucination" is a term used when a Generative AI tool, like Copilot Chat, generates information that is plausible sounding but factually incorrect or completely made up. It's not the same as a human hallucination. The AI isn't "seeing" or "imagining" things in a conscious way. AI's directive is to provide an answer, any answer, to make the user happy. That is why you must take a "trust but verify" approach with any AI-generated content or answers. It is up to the user to verify the accuracy of the results. Copilot Chat's goal is to be helpful and provide a complete-sounding answer, but in doing so, it can sometimes confidently present a fabrication as a fact.

Microsoft has provided information to assist in the ethical and transparent use of AI:

Help

If you have any trouble accessing or using Microsoft Copilot, please contact the IT Service Desk.

M365 Accessibility Info Alert

If you have a disability and have trouble with any Microsoft 365 product, please reference the Microsoft Accessibility Disability Answer Desk where you can contact Windows and Office accessibility support through various methods. If you require additional support, please call the Ohio State Accessibility Helpline at 614-292-5000.