Copilot vs ChatGPT: Which free AI chatbot app should you use?

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2 years ago

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Microsoft quietly released a new Android app for its Copilot AI last week and we tried it out. (Express image)

Microsoft was quick on the draw to enter the AI chatbot race, launching Bing Chat back in February in hopes of driving some growth for their underdog search engine. Unfortunately, their strategy didn’t seem to move the needle, with Bing’s growth mostly staying flat throughout the year. Now it looks like the Redmond giant is trying something new.

Bing Chat got a rebrand to Copilot and has been integrated into a bunch of Microsoft products including Edge and Windows 11. But mobile was an afterthought, with no direct way to access Copilot – you had to download Edge or the Bing app. As a frequent Copilot user (it’s basically free GPT-4!), I always thought it would be really slick to have a dedicated app so I don’t have to launch Edge every time. Well ask and ye shall receive – the Copilot app is finally here on Android.

What the app is like

Microsoft’s new Copilot app is only available on Android right now but an iOS version is expected in the future as well. (Image: Google Play Store)If you’ve already used Copilot in its web form, its mobile app will feel instantly familiar. You get the same messaging-style interface with sample prompts to get started with. But where it really shines is that everything seems to work more smoothly and responsively compared to Copilot web integrations like the one in Edge or Bing search. Actions like clearing the chat history to start afresh are lightning-quick, and the overall experience is very polished. Beyond the slick interface, the app delivers all the core capabilities you’d expect, like drafting emails, documents, and even AI-generated images through Dall-E 3 integration.

Where the ChatGPT app still wins

With over 10 million downloads, the ChatGPT app is arguably Copilot’s biggest rival, even though their makers are more allies than competitors. ChatGPT’s main advantage today is speed – responses are typically instant, regardless of length or complexity. Meanwhile, Copilot can feel sluggish, taking time to digest prompts and search for additional context before formulating a reply. When it does produce output, it’s delivered line-by-line over several seconds.

There’s also a 4,000-character limit on Copilot, rendering the quick digestion of large documents tricky unless you split them into smaller chunks. On ChatGPT, the cap is way higher. ChatGPT recently also gained a nifty voice chat feature which has been designed such that it feels like you’re talking to a real human on call – no exaggeration.

Voice chat experiences are wildly different across both apps. (Express image)Meanwhile, Copilot has the less fancy voice input mode – you tap the mic and turn speech into text, then get a robotic voice read out the AI’s response.

So why use Copilot?

If ChatGPT is so awesome, why bother switching to Copilot at all? The biggest perk is the free web access and GPT-4. GPT-4 is a major step up from GPT-3.5 and just produces far more nuanced and accurate responses. It’s also less likely to hallucinate. Overall, I found Copilot’s answers a lot easier to trust.

Then there’s the fact Copilot can use the whole internet, meaning you can ask about current events. For example, if you ask the free ChatGPT “What’s the most powerful iPhone?”, it’ll probably say the iPhone 13 Pro Max from 2021. But Copilot gets it right – “iPhone 15 Pro Max,” it’ll say. Likewise, prompts like “What’s today’s news?” and “Show me the cheapest flights from Delhi to Mumbai” are actually useful, unlike on the free ChatGPT app. Sure, you can buy ChatGPT Plus, but at almost Rs 2,000 a month, it isn’t exactly cheap.

You can even use Copilot to fulfil your travel needs, unlike ChatGPT. (Express image)Copilot also lets you generate images straight from the chat, which you can’t do at all with the free ChatGPT. And finally, Copilot lets you adjust the tone of the responses between Creative, Balanced, and Precise for more granular control.

The bottom line

So in a nutshell: Think of Copilot as the poor man’s ChatGPT Plus. ChatGPT Plus is still the best for power users, but if you don’t wish to pay, need GPT-4, and are okay with Copilot’s slower speeds, you’ll be just fine with swapping ChatGPT for Copilot on your home screen like I did.