Microsoft's Copilot app adds Office, natural coding and automation

Microsoft

Microsoft may be taking a step back from shoving AI and Copilot features into Windows, but the company is still trucking along with upgrades for its dedicated Copilot app. Following a minor refresh earlier this year, the Copilot app will debut a new tabbed interface, as well as direct integration of Office apps. It's all part of a move towards making Copilot more useful for consumers and businesses, alike. While the company hasn't really made the case for serious consumer Copilot adoption, it's another story for enterprises who need to constantly process data, generate reports and create presentations.

The new Copilot app will feature a "Home" tab, where your typical AI chats and other work occurs. Eventually, the company says the Home tab will also be able to intelligently route your requests between Copilot's different modes. For example, a simple question may stay within the Chat mode, while a more complex query might trigger the Copilot mode, where you can delegate work to Copilot. 

The "Code" tab, meanwhile, lets you create small tasks through natural language requests, no programming skills required. "Describe an app, tracker, dashboard, automation, or workflow in natural language, and Copilot chooses an approach and builds it," Jared Spataro, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer of AI at Work, said in a blog post today. Copilot can spit out things like simple desktop widgets, to dashboards for managing your data. 

Finally, the new "Autopilot" tab unlocks agentic capabilities. You can have Copilot automatically respond to threads or deal with recurring tasks without any input from your end. "It can do things like set up and manage a full supplier review process: building the schedule and workback plan, then handling prep, meetings, and follow-ups on its own, right down to reaching out to stakeholders for updates," Spataro wrote.