Microsoft has announced a major new update for Copilot, introducing new capabilities that allow users to build software, offload tasks that take longer, and work with Office applications without having to leave Copilot.
The company’s recent updates are part of its broader initiative to transform Copilot into a more full-fledged workplace platform. Microsoft is transitioning from a question and answer dynamic to AI systems that do more on their own.
Highlighted among the features is Copilot Code, which lets users create applications, dashboards and other software with natural language instructions. Microsoft states the feature is based on GitHub Copilot technology.
Copilot Code will be available to early-access customers by the end of September. Later this year, Microsoft will be offering a preview to 365 Premium and Pro subscribers as well.
The company is unveiling Autopilot, a revamped version of the Scout agent first announced in June. While a traditional chatbot may only respond to specific messages, Autopilot is built to keep going on the tasks it has been set to do.
The digital coworker will be part of an organisation’s directory and will function with permissions set by the user or organisation, Microsoft said. The system will go into private preview at the end of September.
Security and governance continue to be key pillars of Microsoft’s enterprise approach to autonomous AI. Organisations are wary of using AI agents due to concerns around security, compliance and governance, according to Annie Pearl, corporate vice president of Copilot Product at Microsoft.
Microsoft has also started to integrate Word, Excel and PowerPoint directly into Copilot. The integration is designed to allow users to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations without having to switch between different applications.
The company is also introducing tools that will enable employees to gain greater visibility into AI expenditures. The cost-management features are aimed at helping organisations to monitor costs as they become more commonplace in their workforces, Microsoft claims.
The updates coincide with Microsoft being under increasing pressure from AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude. As the company aims to make AI more ubiquitous in work, it has been building out Copilot’s capabilities across Microsoft 365, coding, workflow automation and autonomous agents.
Long-running agents are part of Microsoft’s overall strategy. Earlier this year, the company released its first “Autopilot” agent, Scout, which it defines as software that can stay active, learn about work in apps and execute actions based on a set of permissions.
Microsoft recently emphasized that enterprise AI use is shifting from one-off chatbots to systems capable of doing real work. The September strategy update highlighted the need for organisations to deploy, monitor and govern agents, while managing the cost of AI workloads.
The new Copilot updates implement some of those ideas into a single product experience: natural-language software development, self-directed task completion, and familiar Office applications and tools to manage AI costs.
The challenge for Microsoft will now be to make these increasingly powerful capabilities usable in the workplace and keep the security and governance controls necessary for large organisations intact.
