Microsoft has introduced new features for its Copilot app, including Home, Code and Autopilot, along with new tools to manage AI spending.
The update brings chat, delegated task handling, document creation, coding tools and autonomous software agents into a single Copilot experience. Home and Code will begin rolling out through Microsoft's Frontier programme, while Autopilot is moving into private preview.
New interface
Home becomes the main starting point in Copilot, combining Chat and Cowork in one place. Chat is designed for direct conversational requests, while Cowork is aimed at tasks users assign for completion from start to finish.
Home also adds Office functions inside Copilot, allowing users to create or update Word documents, Excel workbooks and PowerPoint presentations within the app. These files remain editable and synchronised with the main Office applications.
Microsoft also highlighted changes within individual Microsoft 365 applications. In PowerPoint, Copilot can keep presentations aligned with brand templates and help adjust slides and images. In Excel, users can review what changed in a spreadsheet and why, while Copilot can recommend charts for data visualisation.
Across Microsoft 365, Microsoft is also adding what it calls Skills, intended to bring role-specific workflows into apps such as Excel and Word. Examples include financial work in Excel and legal work in Word.
Code tools
Another major part of the update is Code, which extends Copilot beyond document-based work into app and workflow creation. Users can describe an app, dashboard, automation or tracker in natural language, and Copilot will decide how to build it.
According to Microsoft, Code is based on the same underlying technology as GitHub Copilot. It runs in a sandboxed environment and can be hosted within a customer's own tenant.
Microsoft is also introducing Copilot Managed Runtime, which provides hosting infrastructure for code inside a Microsoft 365 environment. It will support apps built in Cowork, Code and Copilot Studio, and is also being opened to third-party and professional developers.
Code reflects Microsoft's attempt to expand software creation beyond trained developers to a broader office workforce. Software developers will continue to use GitHub Copilot for day-to-day work, with closer links to the wider Copilot platform.
Autonomous agent
Autopilot, previously called Scout, is being positioned as a persistent digital assistant that can continue working without a fresh prompt. Users can assign it a name, role and goal, after which it can monitor channels, follow up on threads, run recurring work and resume projects later.
Microsoft said Autopilot is cloud-hosted and operates with its own identity, memory, computer and workspace inside a customer tenant. It is intended to appear across Teams, Outlook, chats, channels and documents, where users can mention it in the same way they would a colleague.
Microsoft said governance, permissions and audit controls support that model. Users set objectives and boundaries, while Autopilot carries out the work and keeps them informed.
Business context
Alongside the product changes, Microsoft is expanding the data and workflow context available to Copilot through what it calls Microsoft IQ. The aim is to connect operational data and knowledge held across a company's Microsoft systems.
Fabric IQ will bring Power BI semantic models into Copilot and is now generally available in Chat and Cowork. Integration with Code is due through the Frontier programme.
Copilot is also being connected to data and workflows from Dynamics 365 and Power Platform in public preview. This will allow work such as sales proposals to draw on information including deal history and support tickets without requiring users to switch between applications.
A new plugin registry is also being rolled out to bring Microsoft, partner and custom-built plugins into one catalogue. IT teams will be able to approve and manage plugins centrally, while developers and partners will be able to publish once for use across supported Copilot experiences.
Spending controls
The update also includes new financial management functions for AI use. Microsoft drew a distinction between fixed-cost subscription licensing for routine use and usage-based billing for more advanced or longer-running agent work.
Chat, Office use and model selection remain covered by user subscription licences, while Cowork, Code, Autopilot and some advanced models will use usage-based billing. Microsoft added that an automatic routing system called Auto will weigh accuracy, speed and cost for each request when selecting models within the subscription-based service.
New FinOps for AI features are being introduced across Agent 365, Insights and Microsoft Copilot. Administrators will be able to manage spending policies through application programming interfaces, route credit requests into approval workflows, and control which model families are available to different user groups.
Business leaders and administrators will also be able to assess which Cowork tasks produce the strongest outcomes, while end users will be able to view credit use, balances and usage history directly in Copilot.
“As AI capabilities and the ways people use them continue to evolve, we're evolving Copilot pricing alongside them,” Microsoft said.