Examine the Microsoft 365 Copilot logical architecture

  • 3 minutes

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI-powered tool that Microsoft integrated into Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 Copilot utilizes artificial intelligence to understand context and user needs and provide suggestions and recommendations to boost productivity. Microsoft 365 Copilot understands a user's current context and goals by observing the documents, emails, meetings, and other content a user interacts with. Whether it's a document you're drafting, an email you're composing, or a meeting you're in, Microsoft 365 Copilot analyzes the subject matter, tone, structure, and semantics to determine meaning. AI capabilities like natural language processing help Microsoft 365 Copilot analyze this information.

Once it has a deep understanding of your context, Microsoft 365 Copilot doesn't stop at just observations. It draws on the user context to access relevant organizational content and external information to formulate intelligent suggestions. When doing so, Microsoft 365 Copilot takes the following actions:

  • Search and retrieval. Microsoft 365 Copilot utilizes powerful search and retrieval capabilities to identify useful data and content sources.
  • Natural phrasing with large language models (LLMs). Microsoft 365 Copilot uses LLMs to generate natural phrasing for recommendations based on the specific situation. The suggestions aim to provide useful information, resources, or phrasing assist to boost productivity. The next unit examines LLMs in greater detail.
  • Refines recommendations. Microsoft 365 Copilot evaluates potential suggestions and refines them to deliver the most relevant recommendations with helpful specificity.

Logical architecture

Microsoft 365 Copilot uses your organization’s data that you as an individual user has access to, including calendar events, emails, chats, documents, and meetings from the Microsoft Graph. It maps this data and relationships, providing personalized, relevant, and actionable information. Your data remains secure within the Microsoft 365 service boundary, adhering to existing security, compliance, and privacy policies. Furthermore, communication between your tenant and Copilot components is encrypted.

Note

The way Microsoft 365 Copilot accesses data is illustrated in the following diagram.

Diagram showing a visual representation of how Microsoft 365 Copilot works.

In the diagram:

  • A user can initiate Copilot prompts from devices that have Microsoft 365 apps installed.
  • Copilot components include:
    • The Copilot service, which orchestrates the responses to user prompts.
    • An instance of the Microsoft Graph for the data of your Microsoft 365 tenant.
  • Your Microsoft 365 tenant that contains your organization data.

Additional viewing. For more information, watch the following video for an in-depth analysis of how LLMs work with Microsoft 365 Copilot.