Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot app on Sept. 25, bringing chat and task delegation, natural-language coding, and cloud-based agents into one place, with Word, Excel and PowerPoint built in. The app is intended to challenge Claude as Microsoft seeks stronger Copilot use.
Copilot chief Jacob Andreou acknowledged that adding coding was Microsoft playing catch-up. He said customers would not accept sensitive company files being sent to a local machine in a virtual environment, an apparent reference to Claude Cowork’s original local-VM setup, according to GeekWire. Microsoft’s coding tool lets users choose OpenAI GPT or Anthropic Opus models; Anthropic also has a $30 billion cloud-computing commitment with Microsoft, which stands to earn billions in Azure revenue, TheStreet reported.
Microsoft ended one recent quarter with 30 million paid Copilot seats, up 10 million in a quarter; GitHub Copilot separately reached 50 million users. Daily active Copilot users had already grown nearly threefold year over year. The article describes the redesign as a test, not a guaranteed turnaround, and says future seat growth may be the clearest signal of whether it succeeds.
