AI Copilot

An AI copilot is an AI assistant embedded in the software people already use, such as a planning platform or a spreadsheet. It combines a large language model (LLM) with the organization's own data, so its answers draw on the company's actuals, plans, and definitions. You ask in natural language, the copilot drafts, and you decide what to keep.

In FP&A, analysts use a copilot to query actuals and forecasts, draft variance commentary, write formulas, build model components, run what-if scenarios, and flag anomalies. It's a common entry point to AI-assisted planning and overlaps with conversational analytics, since both let users query data in plain language. A copilot can also surface outputs from machine learning in FP&A, such as statistical forecasts, without the user writing code.

The defining trait is that a human stays in the loop. A copilot acts on request and waits for approval, while agentic AI plans and executes multi-step workflows toward a goal with more autonomy. In both cases, output is only as reliable as the governed data, definitions, and access rights behind it.