What is an AI copilot?

Definition

"Copilot" is the common name for an AI assistant embedded in another product: a panel in your email, documents, CRM or planning software that drafts text, summarizes threads or answers questions about what's on screen. Microsoft uses it as a product name, and many vendors use it generically.

The idea is that the person stays in charge and the AI helps, rather than the AI working on its own.

Why it matters for advisors

Copilots arrive through software updates, so they can show up before anyone has reviewed them. FINRA's Notice 24-09 says its rules apply to AI features embedded in third-party products, and your vendor review should treat a new copilot as a new AI tool.

Check the plan: a copilot on a business plan may have very different data terms from the same feature on a personal account.

Example

An email platform update adds a copilot that drafts replies. The firm's CCO checks whether it reads mailbox content, what the data terms are, and adds it to the AI tools register before staff use it with client email.

Watch out for

"It's part of software we already approved" isn't the same as approving the AI feature.