Stories
Nadella Transforms Copilot into AI Operating System for Work
- •Microsoft is reshaping Copilot from a chatbot into a comprehensive AI work platform, integrating conversational assistance, autonomous agents, Office applications, and tools for building custom software.
- •The revamped Copilot experience introduces Home, Office in Copilot, Code, and Autopilot, enabling users to ask, delegate, build, and automate tasks from a single environment.
- •Office in Copilot brings Word, Excel, and PowerPoint capabilities directly into the Copilot experience, allowing users to create or update editable Office files through AI commands.
- •Code empowers employees to build their own applications, dashboards, and workflows using natural language, leveraging the same technology as GitHub Copilot.
- •Autopilot, Microsoft's persistent AI agent, can be given a role and objective to work autonomously over time, managing tasks, monitoring channels, and resuming projects without constant prompts.
Key Questions Answered
Autopilot is a persistent AI agent, previously known as Scout, that can be given a role and objective to continue working over time without needing constant prompts. It can monitor channels, manage recurring tasks, and operate across Teams, Outlook, chats, and documents while maintaining security and governance mechanisms.
Chat remains focused on quick questions, research, and drafting, whereas Cowork is designed for more complex assignments that can be delegated to Copilot and completed end-to-end, such as preparing an RFP response or assembling a financial close package.
Everyday AI tasks remain covered through a user subscription licence, but more intensive agentic capabilities—including Cowork, Code, and Autopilot—use usage-based billing. Microsoft also expands FinOps for AI to give administrators tools to set spending policies and track usage.
