AI copilot
A copilot is an AI tool that drafts or suggests and waits for a person to say yes, halfway between a chat assistant and an agent that acts alone.
In the general sense, a copilot is an AI tool that works next to a person. It drafts, suggests or prepares, and nothing goes out until a person says yes. That puts it halfway between a chat assistant, which only answers when asked, and an AI agent, which takes a goal and acts on its own.
The word also names a product, Microsoft Copilot. This entry is about the general idea.
Telling a copilot from an agent
The test is who presses the button. For example, a review reply tool that writes a draft answer to every new review, and posts nothing until someone at Fernhill reads and approves it, is a copilot. If it posted the replies itself, it would be an agent.
Why teams like the middle ground
A copilot saves time on the dull part of a job and leaves the judgement with a person. That matters when a mistake is public or hard to undo: a reply to a customer, a change to a website, a price.
It also builds trust gradually. Teams often start with a tool in copilot mode, watch what it suggests for a few weeks, and only then let it act alone on the safest tasks.
In AnswerOrbit
When you connect an assistant like Claude or ChatGPT, it can suggest new prompts, up to 20 at a time for one topic. It can't add them itself. Each suggestion waits on the Assistants page with a Waiting for your approval badge until someone on your team who can edit prompts adds them or clicks Decline. See Connect your assistant.