We recently covered all the new features added to Microsoft Teams during the month of December 2024, and while we have kicked off 2025 now, there is a similar change log available for Microsoft 365 Copilot. The Redmond tech firm publishes blog posts covering recent capabilities added to its assistive AI software on a monthly basis, something which we regularly update our readers about.

What's new on the Microsoft 365 Copilot consumer front?

Although Microsoft's blog posts typically highlight the enhancements available for admins first, we'll go the other way around, given the nature of our audience. OneNote users on Mac and iPad will be very happy to know that Copilot integration began rolling out last month. Microsoft has touted it as a major boost for productivity as it offers contextual chat, along with the ability to understand, summarize, and explain notes.

Meanwhile, Excel customers can leverage Copilot-powered Clean Data capabilities in Excel for the web. Another feature coming to Excel on Windows this month is the ability for Copilot to interpret your data and suggest formulas and transformations. Next, Word and PowerPoint users can now ask Copilot to read responses aloud in the chat pane. They can now also upload images to their chats with Copilot, adding another layer of data modality to their conversations. Finally, AI-generated summaries through Intelligent meeting recap have begun rolling out on Teams already, and should be fully available during the course of this month.

Awesome, what about the "boring" admin stuff?

While the changes available for Microsoft 365 Copilot admins may appear boring to a person not involved in this domain, they are quite important in order to enhance organizational productivity. To that end, Microsoft has decided to regularly publish release notes for its AI software on its Learn website, enable admins to control permissions for the content that appears in Copilot Academy in Viva Learning, and empower them to make more informed decisions about Copilot through Viva Pulse Results, now available in the Copilot Dashboard. It will be interesting to see what other enhancements Microsoft's flagship AI software receives this year.