It's no secret that Microsoft has been ramping up its AI efforts for months, with new Copilot features launching almost every few days. Today marks Microsoft's 50th anniversary since Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded the company in 1975, and the company celebrated with its Microsoft 50th Anniversary Copilot event.

As the name suggests, the event focused primarily on AI, specifically Copilot. Interestingly, many of the new features Microsoft is now adding to Copilot appear to be inspired by other AIs, with some seeming to come directly from Google's AI-powered note-taking app, NotebookLM.

Copilot gets AI Podcasts, Deep Research, and Pages

If you've used NotebookLM before, you're probably familiar with its iconic Audio Overviews feature, which converts any source you provide into an engaging podcast. This source can be a Google Doc/Slide, a webpage you're too lazy to read, a PDF of your never-ending research paper, or even a URL to a public YouTube video. Within moments, two virtual hosts discuss all the key topics from your sources, even allowing you to jump into the conversation and feel like you're part of the podcast.

Now, Copilot can also generate AI-powered personalized podcasts. According to Microsoft's blog, the AI tool can create a podcast comparing different options, like vacation plans, or you can provide it content, such as a study or specific websites, and it will generate a podcast explaining the topic.

Sounds pretty identical to NotebookLM, right? The blog also mentions that you can continue to interact with Copilot as you listen to the podcast, though it’s unclear if this will function exactly like NotebookLM’s interactive podcasts. Regardless, NotebookLM’s features, especially the Audio Overviews, have transformed how I study, so it’s exciting to see these capabilities making their way into Copilot.

Additionally, Copilot is gaining Deep Research, which speeds up the excruciating process of conducting complex, multi-step research. The AI tool can "find, analyze, and combine" information from various web sources, large documents, and even images.

It's also getting a feature called Pages, which will allow you to organize all your research and content, no matter how scattered, into a single canvas. This is essentially Copilot’s version of ChatGPT’s Canvas feature, which I’ve personally found quite useful. Both Deep Research and Pages are complementary features, meant to work best together.

All of these features have already started rolling out to a select group of Copilot users, but as usual, Microsoft is gradually rolling them out. You may receive them sooner or later, depending on which platform you're using, where you're located, and the language settings for your Copilot.