Microsoft debuts new Copilot – these are the new features

The overhaul centres on Home, a new landing experience that combines Copilot's Chat and Co-work functions Microsoft has unveiled a major redesign of Copilot, introducing three new capabilities called Home, Code and Autopilot as it seeks to expand the role of AI beyond chat-based assistance and into software creation, task automation and workflow management. Announcing the changes this week, Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer for AI at Work, said the company was “reimagining Microsoft Copilot” to help organisations “build, customise and scale AI across work”. Copilot overhaul The overhaul centres on Home, a new landing experience that combines Copilot’s Chat and Co-work functions into a single interface. Microsoft said users will be able to view recent activity, continue ongoing work and access AI-powered assistance from one location. The company is also integrating Word, Excel and PowerPoint directly into the Copilot experience through a feature called Office in Copilot. Creativity According to Microsoft, users will be able to ask Copilot to create or update documents, spreadsheets and presentations without switching between applications. Another significant addition is Code, a feature Microsoft says lets users create applications, dashboards, automations and workflows using natural-language prompts. The company said the tool is powered by the same underlying technology as GitHub Copilot and operates in a sandboxed environment that can be hosted within an organisation’s Microsoft 365 environment. Not only for developers Microsoft argues that software creation is no longer solely the domain of developers. “Learning to build them is becoming as basic a skill as writing a memo or modelling a budget.” The third new capability, Autopilot, is an AI agent previously known as Scout. Microsoft describes it as a system that can carry out ongoing work without waiting for repeated prompts from users. The company said Autopilot can monitor projects, manage recurring tasks, follow up on work and operate within Teams, Outlook, chats and documents. “Autopilot, previously called Scout, is your digital teammate.” AI The announcement also included updates to Microsoft’s broader AI infrastructure. The company said Copilot is being expanded through Microsoft IQ, which connects business data and workflows from products including Power BI, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to provide additional context for AI-generated outputs. Microsoft also introduced new “FinOps for AI” tools to help organisations monitor and manage AI-related spending, as businesses increasingly adopt AI agents and automation tools. Home and Code are expected to begin rolling out through Microsoft’s Frontier programme in the coming weeks, while Autopilot is scheduled to expand into private preview later this month.