Microsoft follows Anthropic and OpenAI into the AI super app race with overhauled Copilot and AutoPilot agents

Microsoft is planning yet another overhauled version of Copilot, reportedly set to release in August. According to an internal memo seen by The Information, the company will merge its consumer and enterprise apps into a single app. It will include AI coding tools and new AI agents called "AutoPilot" that handle tasks like scheduling and email summaries in the background. Customers will pay extra for the added features.

Executive Vice President Jacob Andreou wrote in the memo that the team "stripped out what wasn't working," including Copilot Podcasts and Copilot Labs. Copilot should focus on "real work" instead of chasing intelligence "for intelligence's sake," being "optimized for outcomes." The app has to "earn the right to exist," he wrote. Anthropic with Claude Code and OpenAI with Codex are working on similar "super apps."

Yesterday, Microsoft also announced a new company focused on rolling out AI inside businesses. Microsoft engineers will work directly inside departments to help build AI into workflows. It's an admission that a chatbot alone delivers limited value, or at least value that's hard to measure. Meanwhile, Microsoft and other AI companies still have to justify their billions in AI spending.