Microsoft has made the Copilot app available on macOS, so those curious to try out the AI on an Apple computer can now grab it from the Mac App Store.
It’s not available to all those with a Mac, though, and there are some notable system and regional requirements to be aware of.
You’ll need to be running macOS 14.0 or better, and Apple M-series silicon is also necessary to run the Copilot software (M1 or better, in other words).
Right now, the Copilot app for the Mac is only available to those in the US and Canada, as well as the UK, but Microsoft tells us to stay tuned for further updates as there are expansion plans afoot for debuting in new regions.
You can use the keyboard shortcut, Option + Space, to fire up a query, and the app offers the expected library of Copilot functions. You can question the AI, get it to create an image, or have Copilot compose or rewrite a chunk of text.
Voice input can be used as an alternative to typing instructions to Copilot, dark mode is here as an option, and the app offers the ‘Think Deeper’ feature too.
What’s the latter, exactly? It’s powered by OpenAI’s o1 model and offers what Microsoft describes as advanced reasoning models capable of dealing with more complicated queries than the AI can usually cope with. For example, questions that come loaded with multiple factors to weight up, perhaps bristling with sub-queries.
Much the same as Windows
On Windows, Copilot was initially conceived as an AI that would have its tentacles in all manner of settings, able to adjust various options and levers at the behest of one simple user request (‘make me more productive’ for example).
However, we haven’t been treated to that side of the AI yet, with Microsoft being disappointingly slow to move in that respect. Even on Windows 11, Copilot doesn’t do a lot more than what we see on the Mac here, at least as far as we’re aware.
We doubt there’ll be a stampede to install Copilot on the Mac, and Apple device owners who do rely on Microsoft’s AI may well prefer to just use it on the web instead, rather than giving up storage space to another app.
That said, more options are still more options, and if you want native Copilot on your Mac, here it is. Although it’s something of a mystery to us why the Copilot app requires an Apple chip to work on macOS.
Read more: Microsoft warns some Windows 11 users they should downgrade to Windows 10 ‘immediately’