What is a copilot?
A copilot is AI built into a tool that suggests, drafts or answers questions while a person stays in control of what happens next. It works inside software people already use, such as email, the CRM or a document editor. GitHub describes its Copilot as an AI coding assistant that offers suggestions as you type. The person accepts, edits or ignores each suggestion.
Why it matters to a revenue leader
Copilots are a low-risk way to put AI in front of sellers and managers, because a person decides every action. That also caps the payoff, since a copilot saves time only for the people who use it, and use tends to vary widely from seller to seller. The useful measures are whether copilot use shows up in outcomes such as faster follow-up or better-prepared deal reviews, and whether its answers draw on your own CRM data or only on general knowledge.
Example
A sales manager at a utility services company opens a deal in the CRM before a pipeline review. The copilot summarizes recent emails and meeting notes, lists open questions about the buyer's budget and drafts three questions for the seller. The manager edits the questions and decides what to ask, and the copilot takes no action on its own.
"Which of our copilots draw on our own CRM data, and can we see any change in results among the people who use them?"
Sources
- What is GitHub Copilot? | GitHub Docs checked 9 Oct 2026
- What is Microsoft Copilot? | Microsoft Learn checked 9 Oct 2026