Microsoft 365 is coming to your business soon – but you’ll pay extra for AI features
After months of teasing us with snippets of what its generative AI-powered Copilot assistants can do, Microsoft has now confirmed its plans to bring a unified Copilot experience to its users across Bing, Edge, Microsoft 365, and the Windows operating system.
As part of the announcement, Redmond has finally assigned a dedicated icon just to Copilot as the AI tool begins to expand across the company’s portfolio,.
At the same time, Microsoft announced the general availability of Copilot, which will launch in several stages beginning on September 26.
Microsoft’s Copilot is becoming a reality
Windows 11 uptake has struggled as many enterprises continue to prefer older versions, including Windows 10, for their better compatibility with certain workplace apps. Microsoft hopes that introducing Copilot to the OS will help attract customers to upgrade to the latest version. It coincides with the launch of macOS Sonoma, Apple’s latest operating system for its desktops and laptops, which also launches on September 26.
Microsoft Copilot in Windows will be available to commercial customers for free and can be accessed with the Win+C keyboard shortcut.
Microsoft 365 Copilot will launch next, on November 1, for the costly sum of $30 per user per month. The company has already been trying out several features across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and other M365 apps to varying degrees of access, but from November, all enterprise customers will be able to benefit from artificial intelligence help across the company’s office software.
The news comes several weeks after Google made its office app-based AI helper, Duet AI for Workspace, generally available, and for the exact same monthly cost.
The reality is, though, that individual customers will have to keep waiting to find out whether they will be able to get their hands on the same sorts of tools.
