Microsoft's AI assistant comes to iPhone and iPad — it's powered by GPT-4 and DALL·E 3, and best of all, it's free

(Image credit: Future / Apple)

Microsoft has released its AI assistant, Copilot, which works similarly to OpenAI’s ChatGPT app, onto the App Store.

Available on both the iPhone and iPad for free, Copilot, formerly called Bing Chat, is Microsoft’s take on AI. Copilot has been available on Windows 11 since September 2023 and lets users ask the assistant to generate images, enable certain settings like Dark Mode, launch a troubleshooter, and much more.

Copilot offers GPT-4, OpenAI’s newest language model, for free — unlike OpenAI’s app, where you must pay for a subscription to access this. This is a big advantage for Microsoft’s app, as you’re getting the latest version without having to pay a monthly $20 fee.

Microsoft is giving Copilot a big push for 2024 by making it available on as many devices as possible — there was also an Android app released the day before it arrived on iPhone and iPad, alongside a web version that works on Mac with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. With Apple rumored to be working on its own AI model for Siri, we could be heading towards a clash of the AI assistants later this year.

Clash of the AI Titans? — iMore’s Take

Copilot on iPhone — (Image credit: Future)

Saying that Siri is unreliable makes me feel like a broken record these days. But it is, and it has been for years in my experience. It’s an Apple feature that’s fallen by the wayside, and when I speak to developers about the assistant, they look at me in bewilderment — almost as if Siri is a forbidden word.

By contrast, I’ve been using Copilot on my iPhone in the past week, and it’s fun to use. Asking the assistant to generate images is a simple affair, and, compared to Siri, I don’t need to try and be very specific when I’m asking a question. Granted, I can’t use the app on my Mac, but using the web version in Google’s Chrome browser works great.

I’m enjoying Copilot — and that’s not something I can say about Siri. I hope I can in the future though. If rumors about Apple’s AI efforts do come true later this year, then hopefully I can make a fresh start with Siri, and we can finally forget about our frustrating past together.

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Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use everyday to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64 and Daily Star.