Microsoft relaunches Copilot as a super-app with chat, agents, and ambience coding features — and artificial intelligence should repeat Office success

The Code tab allows anyone to build an application, tracking system, dashboard or automation script, and then share the results with colleagues as an internal cloud application. “The code runs on the same technology as GitHub Copilot, runs in an isolated sandbox environment, and can be securely hosted in your enterprise cloud.””, noted Spataro.

Autopilot is another innovation in the Copilot ecosystem. Spataro calls him a “digital colleague.” Autopilot, formerly known as Scout and originally available only as a desktop app, is a cloud-based application that allows personal AI assistants to continue working even when the user is away from their computer. Like many other artificial intelligence agents, Autopilot uses cloud computing resources. It can be responsible for tasks such as monitoring Teams channels, performing repetitive work tasks, or handling the follow-up to meetings.

The key difference between Autopilot and many other AI agents is that Microsoft created it as an enterprise-level solution, targeting companies that already use Microsoft’s Office suite and identity management systems. “Autopilot lives in your client, which has its own identity, memory, computer and workspace. It’s built on Microsoft IQ and understands how your organization actually works. It appears where people already work – in Teams, Outlook, chats, channels and files – so you can tag them with @ (as a colleague) and have the appropriate permissions, auditing and controls.””, explained Spataro.

The focus on enterprise security and control is an important part of Microsoft’s promotion of Copilot to enterprises. The difference this time is that the cost of Copilot to an organization will depend on what the employee does. For the Cowork, Code and Autopilot components in the new Copilot app, the company is introducing a pay-as-you-go model: long processes involving AI agents or running models such as Astra and Fable will be charged based on resource consumption. Standard Copilot license (user subscription) provides access to Copilot in Chat, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. Microsoft uses automated model selection for each specific task, but IT administrators will have to use new Microsoft FinOps for AI tools to manage AI costs and prevent costs from spiraling out of control when using agent capabilities.

The new Home and Code tabs will be available to members of Microsoft’s Frontier program (early access to AI features) in the coming weeks, while Autopilot will enter private preview later this month. The coding feature will also be available in preview to Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers by the end of the year.

The new Copilot app isn’t positioned as a direct competitor to products like Muse. Microsoft calls it “artificial intelligence built for work.” The company even compared it to Office’s impact on productivity. “Just as Office defined work in the PC era, the new Copilot aims to define work in the AI ​​era.”said Spataro.