{"id":95732,"date":"2025-08-25T11:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T11:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/95732\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T11:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T11:30:18","slug":"i-tried-microsofts-take-on-ai-notes-and-google-should-be-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/95732\/","title":{"rendered":"I Tried Microsoft\u2019s Take on AI Notes, and Google Should Be Worried"},"content":{"rendered":"

I first saw a demo of Copilot Pages<\/a>, Microsoft\u2019s answer to Google\u2019s NotebookLM<\/a>, at the company\u2019s 50th anniversary<\/a> event in Redmond, WA. Both apps use generative AI knowledge bases and language reasoning models to add relevant information and organizational structure to your research or study projects. Pages debuted as a tool for Microsoft 365 Business<\/a> users, but now anyone can try it for free. I tested Copilot Pages with a few different topics, including one dear to my heart\u2014hummingbirds in Mexico. It didn\u2019t disappoint in my hands-on testing, and I find it more intuitive than Google’s alternative, even if the latter has a few more features.<\/p>\n

How to Get Copilot Pages<\/p>\n

To start using Copilot pages, just open the Copilot app (available for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows) or go to the Copilot website. You need to sign in to an account on the apps, but not on the web. Regardless, you should still sign in if you intend to access your pages on more than one device.<\/p>\n

\"Start<\/p>\n

\n Menu for opening Copilot Pages (Credit: Microsoft\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

You can launch Copilot Pages in two ways. To access it directly, click the drop-down menu from the New Chat icon at the top left and switch to \u201cCreate New Page.\u201d (The default is \u201cCreate New Conversation.\u201d) You should then see a blank workspace with a \u201cStart Typing\u2026\u201d prompt in the center and a \u201cYour Page Is Ready\u201d message in the sidebar.<\/p>\n

\"Convert<\/p>\n

\n Converting a Copilot AI chat into a page (Credit: Microsoft\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

Alternatively, you can just start using Copilot normally and then choose \u201cEdit in a Page\u201d once you get a result you want to use for studying or research. (In the mobile app, you see just the icon to the left of those words.)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s It Like to Use Copilot Pages?<\/p>\n

When you start a page, you see a sidebar that explains what\u2019s going on before you even type anything. \u201cThis is your space to brainstorm, draft, and iterate,” reads the sidebar text. “I\u2019m here to help along the way.\u201d Lower down in the sidebar is a box where you can start a typical AI chat. You can change the name of the page simply by clicking on it.<\/p>\n

\"Start<\/p>\n

\n Starting a page from scratch in Copilot Pages (Credit: Microsoft\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

Copilot Pages doesn\u2019t necessarily do all the work for you. You can type information in the central blank space, or paste or upload content. It\u2019s also possible to tell Copilot to add things to the page from the chat box in the sidebar.<\/p>\n

\"Formatting<\/p>\n

\n Formatting options in Copilot Pages (Credit: Microsoft\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

Once you type on the page, you can highlight your text to see formatting options: bold, bullet list, heading, and so on. A prominent Ask text box with the Copilot logo helps you get info on your topic from Copilot\u2019s AI resources. Results appear in the right-side panel rather than directly on the page. You can prompt the AI to add this info to the main page, but I would prefer a dedicated \u201cAdd to Page\u201d button. It\u2019s possible to regenerate answers if the original result is not to your liking.<\/p>\n

For my test hummingbird research project, I asked Copilot to list all the species in Mexico in order from most to least common, along with their conservation status and region. Here\u2019s the bottom section of what I got:<\/p>\n

\"Talble<\/p>\n

\n Talble creation in Copilot Pages (Credit: Microsoft\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

When you ask to add information or revisions to the page, you get the options to apply or reject the suggestions (see screen above). Copilot can also edit the page content based on chat requests. For example, when I asked it to sort the species list based on eBird<\/a> data, it did so directly on the page rather than adding another list to the sidebar. Of course, I had to confirm this edit first with the “Apply Revision” prompt.<\/p>\n

In another test, I pasted one of my articles onto a page. It took a while for Copilot to strip out all the ads and images. When I asked the AI to organize the article better, it primarily converted the text to bulleted lists. I suppose that is an acceptable take on organization, but we pride ourselves on our sparkling prose here at PCMag.<\/p>\n

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\"Restructure<\/p>\n

\n Restructuring text in Copilot Pages (Credit: Microsoft\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

Copilot Pages vs. Google’s NotebookLM<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s NotebookLM offers more features and provides more guidance than Copilot Pages. That said, it has a more complicated layout and is less flexible. Copilot Pages is more akin to a simple notebook that you can amplify with AI.<\/p>\n

NotebookLM Is All About Sources<\/p>\n

When you start a notebook in NotebookLM, you see a helpful dialog box, which prominently features an Upload sources button. You can add web links, choose documents from Google Drive, or paste text. Alternatively, you can click Discover Sources and type a prompt about your topic of interest. NotebookLM strongly emphasizes the sources of information you add via the above methods, and the integrated AI chat derives all of its information exclusively from them. For comparison, Copilot Pages uses the full span of Copilot\u2019s knowledge base for chat requests.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

\n Google NotebookLM start page (Credit: Google\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

NotebookLM’s Setup is More Complex and Restrictive\u00a0<\/p>\n

The main NotebookLM interface has three panels. Your sources appear in the left panel, an AI chat box is in the middle panel, and AI chat results and your notes appear in the right-hand panel. You can edit the notes you create, but not the ones based on the AI chat responses. It’s not possible to add AI information from within notes you create, either, which you can do in Copilot Pages with its Ask button.<\/p>\n

Recommended by Our Editors<\/p>\n

\"NotebookLM<\/p>\n

\n NotebookLM interface (Credit: Google\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

You also can\u2019t upload files to the chat, unlike with Copilot Pages. Unfortunately, neither service lets you add images to your page or note.<\/p>\n

Comparing Results of Research Queries\u00a0<\/p>\n

In testing, NotebookLM didn\u2019t respond exactly or fully to my request. Like with Copilot Pages, I asked it to name all hummingbird species in Mexico in the table, along with their regions. NotebokLM included just 17 species in the table and listed their habitats (such as gardens or mountains) rather than their regions (such as Southern Mexico).<\/p>\n

I suspect that Copilot Pages’ underlying natural language processing abilities and OpenAI models give it the advantage here. After all, ChatGPT<\/a> comes out ahead in our head-to-head comparison with Gemini<\/a>. That said, these limitations could also be due to NotebookLM restricting its knowledge base to the sources it finds at the start or ones that you specify.<\/p>\n

Notebook LM Has More Features<\/p>\n

NotebookLM includes a few goodies not available in Copilot Pages. For example, it offers audio overviews, mind maps, study guides, a timeline for sources, and video overviews. As with Pages, you can share a web-hosted version of your document, though. But NotebookLM also lets you share a notebook for co-editing and maintains public notebooks on topics such as investing advice and parenting.<\/p>\n

What About Privacy?<\/p>\n

In terms of privacy, Google has a leg up on Microsoft: NotebookLM doesn\u2019t use your entries for AI training, while Copilot Pages does by default. However, you can change the latter behavior in Pages\u2019 settings.<\/p>\n

\"Privacy<\/p>\n

\n Privacy options in Copilot Pages (Credit: Microsoft\/PCMag)\n<\/p>\n

Is Copilot Pages Worth Using?<\/p>\n

If you want an AI tool that creates a persistent document you can build on, format, and organize, rather than one that just provides a quick answer, Copilot Pages is worth a try. It can sometimes get things wrong (like any generative AI tool), but the information Copilot provided in my tests was largely on target. And, as always, I appreciate that it will correct itself if you suspect something is wrong. Copilot Pages would absolutely benefit from the ability to include images and more collaboration features, but I still recommend it if you want a more flexible and focused alternative to NotebookLM.<\/p>\n

About Michael Muchmore<\/p>\n

\n Principal Writer, Software\n <\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

I’ve been testing PC and mobile software for more than 20 years, focusing on photo and video editing, operating systems, and web browsers. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech and headed up PCMag\u2019s enterprise software team. <\/p>\n

\n
\n Read Michael’s full bio
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Read the latest from Michael Muchmore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I first saw a demo of Copilot Pages, Microsoft\u2019s answer to Google\u2019s NotebookLM, at the company\u2019s 50th anniversary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-95732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}