Copilot Cowork and Claude Collaborate: Introducing the Next Level E7 Licensing Tier

Microsoft has introduced Copilot Cowork, an innovative AI assistant capable of performing background tasks, creating documents, and seamlessly integrating with Microsoft 365 apps, as revealed by the company on Monday.

The new product combines Anthropic’s Claude family of models with Microsoft’s existing Copilot assistant, showcasing Microsoft’s expansion beyond its partnership with OpenAI. Anthropic currently offers Claude Cowork through its platform.

Microsoft’s move aims to increase the adoption of Copilot within its commercial user base, which currently represents a small fraction despite significant investments in AI infrastructure.

Part of Microsoft’s Wave 3 of Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Cowork is accompanied by the announcement of a new $99-per-user Microsoft 365 E7 tier launching on May 1. This tier includes Copilot, identity management tools, and a new $15 Agent 365 product for AI agent management.

The E7 tier offers a 65% increase in cost compared to the current $60 E5 subscription, reflecting Microsoft’s response to customer feedback that they desire a unified solution rather than multiple tools stitched together.

Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft’s commercial business, emphasized in a blog post the importance of addressing customer needs for a comprehensive solution through the new offerings.

Copilot Cowork is designed to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, leveraging a user’s calendar, email, and files to streamline work processes without constant oversight.

In a demonstration video, Charles Lamanna showcased Copilot Cowork analyzing a month of meetings, compiling customer notes, and generating a competitive analysis with a Word document and Excel spreadsheet.

Microsoft emphasizes the significance of Work IQ, its intelligence layer connecting Copilot to user work patterns, relationships, and content across Microsoft 365.

Copilot Cowork operates within Microsoft 365’s security and compliance boundaries, ensuring auditable actions and outputs by default. Microsoft highlights its multi-model approach, ensuring the selection of the most suitable model for each task irrespective of the provider.

The announcement of Copilot Cowork received varied reactions, with Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor and author, raising queries about the utilization of models and the product’s future updates.

Copilot Cowork is currently in a limited research preview phase and is set to launch in Microsoft’s Frontier program later this month.