Microsoft’s Bold Vision: The Copilot ‘Super App’ Set to Rival Office in Influence

Microsoft has officially unveiled its new Copilot “super app,” which combines three AI capabilities into a single interface of chat, coding, and agents. The app includes three tabs for Home, Code, and Autopilot, with Home combining Copilot Chat and Cowork. Microsoft is also planning to include a personalized Today feature inside Home for important emails, meeting requests, Teams threads, and more.

Jared Spataro, chief marketing officer of AI at work at Microsoft, explains that Home is where users can review recent activity, get suggestions on what Copilot can help with, and pick up work right where they left off.

The Code tab is a surprise addition to the app, allowing users to create apps, trackers, dashboards, or automations and share them with colleagues as cloud-hosted internal apps. Code runs in a sandboxed environment and can be securely hosted within the tenant.

Autopilot, previously known as Scout, is described as a “digital teammate” that operates in the cloud, enabling a personal AI assistant to continue running while users are asleep. Autopilot is made enterprise-grade, appealing to businesses that rely on Microsoft’s Office and identity management suites.

Microsoft is introducing usage-based billing for the Cowork, Code, and Autopilot parts of the Copilot app, ensuring that businesses pay based on their employees’ activities. The regular Copilot license includes features in Chat, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, with an auto model picker matching models for each task.

The new Copilot app represents Microsoft’s efforts to redefine its AI assistant, with a focus on enterprise security and control. The Home and Code tabs will roll out to Microsoft’s Frontier program for early access AI features soon, with Autopilot entering private preview later this month.

While Copilot has faced challenges in the consumer space, Microsoft is positioning it as “the AI built for work.” CEO Satya Nadella refers to Copilot as a new operating system designed to enhance productivity in the AI era.

Microsoft’s goal with Copilot is to redefine work in the AI era, but competition from other tech giants like Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta remains. It will be interesting to see if “the AI built for work” can help Microsoft catch up in the AI space.

The article has been updated with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s comments.