Microsoft envisions its new Copilot ‘super app’ to be as impactful as Office.

Microsoft is officially launching its revamped Copilot “super app” today, following a teaser last month. This new app integrates three AI functionalities into a single interface, focusing on chat, coding, and agents. As part of this rollout, the AI personal assistant previously known as Scout is now rebranded as Autopilot.

The Copilot app features three main tabs: Home, Code, and Autopilot. The Home tab merges Copilot Chat and Cowork, serving as the primary interface for users. Microsoft plans to introduce a Today feature within Home, acting as a personalized dashboard for essential emails, meeting requests, Teams threads, and more. “Home is where you get your bearings, keeping you grounded and moving forward: review recent activity, get suggestions on what Copilot can help with, and pick up work right where you left off,” explains Jared Spataro, chief marketing officer of AI at Microsoft.

The Code tab is an unexpected addition to this “super app,” allowing users to create apps, trackers, dashboards, or automations and share them as cloud-hosted internal applications. “Powered by the same underlying technology as GitHub Copilot, Code runs in a sandboxed environment and can be hosted securely within your tenant,” Spataro notes.

Autopilot, described as a “digital teammate,” is a new feature in the Copilot experience. Formerly known as Scout and initially a desktop app, Autopilot functions in the cloud, enabling a personal AI assistant to operate even while you’re not active. It can monitor Teams channels, execute recurring tasks, or manage follow-ups, all while maintaining its own cloud instance.

What sets Autopilot apart from other AI agents is its enterprise-grade design, tailored for businesses that utilize Microsoft’s Office and identity management tools. “Autopilot lives in your tenant with its own identity, memory, computer, and workspace, and it’s built on Microsoft IQ so it understands how your organization actually works,” Spataro explains. It integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, appearing in Teams, Outlook, chats, channels, and documents, allowing users to @mention it like a colleague, complete with permissions and governance.

Microsoft is emphasizing enterprise security and control to attract businesses to Copilot. The cost for using Copilot will be based on employee activity, with usage-based billing for the Cowork, Code, and Autopilot features. The standard Copilot license provides access to Copilot in Chat, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. An auto model picker will match the appropriate model for each task, while IT admins will need to utilize Microsoft’s new FinOps for AI to manage spending and prevent excessive usage.

With this new Copilot app, Microsoft seems to have found a solid approach for its AI assistant. The company has redesigned Copilot multiple times since its initial launch as a chatbot in Bing, and this latest three-tab layout builds on the integration of its consumer and commercial Copilot apps. This change comes alongside significant leadership adjustments that have appointed a single head for Copilot for the first time.

The new Home and Code tabs will begin rolling out to Microsoft’s Frontier program for early access AI features in the coming weeks, with Autopilot entering private preview later this month. Code will also be available in preview for Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers later this year.

While Copilot has struggled in the consumer market compared to competitors, interest from Microsoft’s core commercial customers is gradually increasing. This new app is not intended to rival platforms like Muse, with Microsoft branding it as “the AI built for work.” CEO Satya Nadella has even referred to Copilot as a new operating system for work. “We’re building Copilot as a new OS for work that spans every model, every form factor, and every task,” Nadella stated.

Microsoft is drawing parallels between Copilot and the transformative impact of Office on productivity. “Just as Office defined work for the PC era, the new Copilot is built to define it for the AI era,” Spataro adds.

While this may be Microsoft’s ambition, the current AI landscape is far more competitive than the PC era ever was. The company faces significant challenges from rivals like Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, making it intriguing to see if “the AI built for work” can help Microsoft regain its footing.