In aviation the copilot, more formally the “first officer”, is the second in command to the captain, or pilot, of the aircraft. The copilot is not an apprentice; they are a fully trained professional pilot who shares the flying duties with the pilot. The pilot may make critical decisions regarding the flight, but in practice, the pilot and copilot usually work collaboratively, and there won’t be a need for the pilot to “pull rank.”
Microsoft has adopted the term “copilot” to refer to its growing number of AI companions, all powered by large language models. While there has been strong focus on the various capabilities of these copilots, as the pilot you must play a key role in successfully “flying” generative AI within your communication or collaboration tools.
