You will probably be aware that Chat-GPT offers both a free tier (Chat GPT3) and a paid “plus” tier which costs $20 and upwards and includes more features and the new GPT-4 engine.
- The free tier is limited, is based on the “older” ChatGPT-3.5 model and doesn’t include any image creation tools.
- The Plus tier costs $20 and gives you ChatGPT-4 (the newest fasted and accurate model) and the ability to create AI images using DALL-E and ability to web search!
However, you can get access and use (legally) all the plus features (and more) including GPT-4 and DALL-E for free – by using Microsoft Copilot in Edge (you may know this as Bing Chat).
How to get all the features of ChatGPT-4 and DALL-E for free.
Microsoft Copilot is the brand Microsoft have given to their AI technology which is all built on the very same ChatGPT technology built by OpenAI. In face Microsoft own a significant portion of OpenAI and have been developing together for years.
Here’s why you really want to take a look.
- Microsoft Copilot is 100% Free.
- It uses the latest Chat GPT-4 models and you also get access to Image Designer which is built on DALL-E version 3.
- It is available as a dedicated app on iOS and Android,
- It is built in to Windows 11 (and soon Windows 10)
- It is also built into Microsoft’s Edge browser (this is built on Chromium technology – so is essentially Chrome but better!).
Corporate users also get the same free version but with Enterprise data protection, meaning chat data and content is not used to train their consumer models.
Introduction to Microsoft Copilot
Copilot is Microsoft’s AI powered Generative AI tools built on the latest Open AI versions of Chat GPT large language model (LLM) and the DALL-E image creation technology. By using Copilot, users get access to this for free without having to pay the $20 per month subscription fee for ChatGPT Plus.
To get Copilot, you just need to head over the Apple Store or Google Play Store and search for Microsoft Copilot.
You don’t need to sign up, but if you do sign in with your Microsoft account (you can create one for free if you don’t have one) , you get access to more features and can have more detailed and longer conversations with the chatbot. This is definitely worth doing if you plan to use Chat GPT / Copilot more than a couple times a day…
This offers amazing value. Copilot is a free and amazing tool that uses the state-of-the-art AI models from OpenAI, including GPT-4 and DALL-E 3. Copilot gives you access to the same innovation and functionality that Microsoft is embedding into its premium products and services for both individual and business customers. DALL-E 3 is an impressive AI model that can produce stunning photos, artwork, stickers, backgrounds, and other images from your instruction / prompt.
Getting Started With Copilot – What can it do?
Welcome to Copilot. This is the ultimate chat tool for creating and exploring amazing content. If you have used Chat GPT before, you already know how powerful and fun it is. But Copilot takes it to the next level. With Copilot, you can not only use chat to search, but also use it to access and manipulate data from the internet (how cool is that?), and even generate stunning images with your words. And if you use Copilot from the Edge browser, you can also analyse and work on content from any web-page – that’s awesome, right? Don’t believe me? Just see for yourself.
Getting started is super simple – whether you are using the browser, Windows 11, or a mobile app. You can simply use the ‘Ask me anything’ prompt to type your question or instruction (this is called a prompt), upload an image, or paste some text in, or tap the microphone icon to speak to Copilot. Copilot has the ability to reply with audio as well as displaying results on screen which is nice.
The following images show the different starting screen on different devices.
Some things Copilot can help you with.
Copilot (as the prompts suggest) can be used to perform a powerful range of text and image based tasks, research and more. For example, you could use it to help you…
This table, show the outputs of these steps based on the prompts I used. Why not follow along and adapt the prompts to suit your need. You may need to tweak them to get the desired result.
| Desired Outcome | Sample Prompt (instruction) |
| A story about a car that can fly. | “Write me a story about a family that take their new car out for a drive only to find it has the ability to fly. Make the story funny and limit it to 3 paragraphs“. |
| Drafting an email about a specific topic. | “I need to write an email to my team explaining that we are planning to restructure the team to align to our new coprate vision. Draft me an email that will be both empatetic but also direct about the change that is happening.” |
| Summarise a document | Open a PDF document in the browser. “Summarise the key points of this document into 3 sections including a summary, key points and a conclusion“. |
| Compare different things (such as products) and present the information in a preferred (e.g., a table) format. | “I want to go on holiday with my 2 young children over xmas next year where the weather will be warm and sunny and near a beach. Create a table with some different places we could go that are good for children, expected costs per person and the location. Ensure flight times are under 5 hours.“ |
| Rewrite a body of text (document, email body, report). | Instruction: Open a document you are working in word or powerpoint in the browser. Highlight a body of text and select “write” from the context menu. |
This table, show the outputs of these steps based on the prompts I used. Why not follow along and adapt the prompts to suit your need. You may need to tweak them to get the desired result. You can create these prompts directly in Copilot or for more control and fun. Just go to. https://designer.microsoft.com .
| Desired Outcome | Sample Prompt (instruction) |
| Create social media content about a [brand launch] or something else. | “Create me an image for social media to promote my new webinar I am launching in March on AI technolog in the retail industry.” |
| Create an image such as an illustration for the story we just created above. | “I have written a story about a family that take their new car out for a drive only to find it has the ability to fly. Create me some illustrations of a flying car taking off for the story using in coloured pencil sketches for a childrens book.” |
| Create an image for a blog site or report. | “I need to write a financial report for the return on investment of AI technology in the enegery sector. Create me a modern, line art image I can use on the front cover. Make it look professional with minimum colours”. |
| Explain an image by asking questions about a local image or doc on the web | Use the upload image box to upload an image from your phone or computer and then ask Copilot to “describe the image or create you some alt-text”. |
| Recreate an image using AI. | Upload an image and then ask Copilot to create a new image based on this. For example: “Create a new image that uses the same background but adds some farm animals ouitside the building“ |
Here’s a bonus cool prompt you can try.. I have endless fun with this..
Vibrant red eyes, dark green baby dinosaur in a forest with leaves hiding some people his cute but fierce face. BLACK background with faint outlines of forests and mountains in the background. studio photography, close up
Great Designer Image Creator Prompt.
Conclusion
Microsoft’s Copilot app is now available for iOS and Android users. It ships with a ton of features, including the capability to generate answers to queries, draft emails, and summarize text. You can also generate images using the tool by leveraging its DALL-E 3 technology. It also ships with OpenAI’s latest LLM, GPT-4, and you can access all these for free.
Wait.. There’s more.
OK, so there is more.. You can also opt to purchase Copilot Pro…. For £19 pupm for individual for Microsoft Family subscriptions you get aceess to event better GPT4-Turbo, faster speeds and much more more.
Read about Copilot Pro here..