Microsoft’s nebulous pre-generatively led artificial intelligent platform Copilot has morphed yet again to now include additional shopping features via the company’s flagship web browser, Edge.
Microsoft Edge will now work in tandem with its Copilot chat counterpart to produce a more personalized shopping experience through web browsing that includes suggested gift ideas, product review summaries, price comparisons, customer reviews, and more.
Similar to other Copilot experiences, the browser window will be split into an 80/20 double pane showcasing a majority of the text based information in the Copilot portion of the window while giving the products center stage in the larger browser area.
Today’s announcement from Microsoft regarding the implementation of Copilot into Microsoft Shopping is a rehash from an earlier June 2023 announcement.
In June, we announced Review Summaries and today I’m pleased to say that it’s now widely available. Edge and Bing can do the work for you and help you shop with confidence, giving you a quick look at top insights and popular opinions about the product. To access Review Summaries, simply click on the Copilot icon from the Edge sidebar and ask it to summarize what people are saying about an item online.
Written By Roger Capriotti: Microsoft Edge Blog
However, today does mark the first time in two months that these new Copilot-led Microsoft Shopping features have been made generally available.
Microsoft also offered some more details about its updated Microsoft Shopping that include the new Edge Secure Network which uses VPN technology to “stop third parties and bad actors from accessing your sensitive information, so you can make purchases online, fill out forms, and keep your browsing activity away from prying eyes.”
The ESN is triggered by visits to websites not secured by HTTPS or open Wi-Fi access points such as airports and coffee shops.
For anyone interested in taking these features for a test run or are running empty on holiday gift ideas already, you can visit the separate Microsoft Shopping destination at https://www.bing.com/shop/ai via the desktop web browser.
For now, it looks like the Copilot powered Microsoft Shopping is only a desktop affair with only a passing reference of from the company about a usage via the Edge browser on iOS or Android.