Microsoft repackages Copilot

Microsoft is turning Copilot into part of a bigger enterprise bundle, not a standalone pitch, with a new Microsoft 365 E7 package priced at $99 per user a month. (blogs.microsoft.com) Microsoft announced Microsoft 365 E7 on March 9, 2026 and said it will be generally available on May 1. The bundle combines Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Entra Suite, and Agent 365 in one offer. (microsoftpartners.microsoft.com) Agent 365 is Microsoft’s management layer for artificial intelligence agents, which are software systems that can carry out multistep work instead of only answering prompts. Microsoft said Agent 365 will also be generally available on May 1 for $15 per user. (blogs.microsoft.com) The product message also changed. Microsoft said Microsoft 365 Copilot is now “model diverse by design” and uses models from OpenAI and Anthropic, with Claude available in mainline Copilot chat through the Frontier program. (blogs.microsoft.com) In the new Wave 3 release, Microsoft is pushing “Copilot Cowork,” which lets Copilot break a job into steps, work across files and apps, and keep running for minutes or hours with visible progress. Microsoft said the system is built to keep those actions inside its security, identity, and governance controls. (microsoft.com) That framing moves Copilot further from a chat assistant and closer to a paid layer across Microsoft’s workplace stack. Microsoft’s March 17 leadership memo said the company was reorganizing Copilot across experience, platform, Microsoft 365 apps, and artificial intelligence models into “one unified effort.” (blogs.microsoft.com) Microsoft is also using packaging to widen Copilot’s reach below E7. In a December 4, 2025 pricing update, later updated on March 18, 2026, the company said Copilot Chat features were being expanded across Microsoft 365 and that commercial suite pricing would rise on July 1, 2026. (microsoft.com) Outside Microsoft, the strategy is being read as a move away from a single-model bet. GeekWire reported this week that Microsoft 365 Copilot’s Researcher agent uses GPT and Claude to check each other’s work, while Computerworld reported that Microsoft now separates generation from review and allows side-by-side model comparisons in Researcher. (geekwire.com) (computerworld.com) The timing points to Microsoft’s next showcase. Reuters reported on March 30 that Microsoft had rolled out Copilot Cowork to early-access customers, putting the company’s April 29 event in position to sell Copilot less as one assistant and more as a packaged system of models, agents, and controls. (msn.com)