Microsoft is rolling out a new pay-as-you-go plan, Copilot Chat, for corporate customers. This offering bundles several AI-powered productivity features for Microsoft 365, providing a more flexible pricing model compared to its existing subscription-based plans.
Copilot Chat, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, enables users to perform various tasks, including asking business-related questions, automating workflows, generating images, and summarizing documents. These capabilities were previously part of Microsoft 365 Copilot, an enterprise AI add-on priced at $30 per user per month.
In a blog post announcing the launch, Microsoft described Copilot Chat as a “powerful new on-ramp” to encourage organizational adoption of AI. The features are integrated into the Microsoft 365 Copilot app—a rebranding of the Microsoft 365 app—where users can interact with the AI to draft documents, collaborate on projects, and automate tasks via the Copilot Pages tool.
Microsoft is particularly emphasizing Copilot Chat’s *task automation features*, which it terms “agentic.” These tools allow users to create “agents” to handle tasks such as preparing account details for meetings or providing instructions to field workers. IT administrators can also design organization-wide agents, manage their deployment, and oversee access and security settings.
The *pricing for agents will be metered*, although Microsoft has not disclosed specific costs. The plan excludes some features available in Microsoft 365 Copilot, such as prebuilt agents, advanced AI capabilities for Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and personalization tools. It also lacks the new Copilot Analytics tool that measures company-wide AI usage.The introduction of Copilot Chat appears to be a strategic move by Microsoft to attract businesses that are hesitant to adopt Microsoft 365 Copilot. By offering metered features, Microsoft aims to capture incremental revenue from customers with simpler AI needs while incentivizing them to upgrade to the full Microsoft 365 Copilot package.
Despite being adopted by nearly 70% of Fortune 500 companies, Microsoft 365 Copilot has faced challenges. A Gartner survey revealed that only 3.3% of IT leaders believe the tool has provided significant value. Additionally, reports indicate concerns about inefficiencies, high costs, and security risks.
In an internal memo, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged these challenges while highlighting the company’s commitment to advancing AI applications.
