Microsoft reports 20 million Copilot users

Microsoft said on April 29 that Microsoft 365 Copilot had passed 20 million paid seats, giving investors and customers a hard number for one of the company’s most closely watched AI products. CEO Satya Nadella disclosed the figure on Microsoft’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call, where he said seat additions were accelerating quarter over quarter. Fortune returned to the number in a May 21 article that cast Copilot as a central test of whether Microsoft can convert its AI spending and product push into broader software adoption. Analysts cited by Fortune said adoption was improving, but they were still measuring whether usage and penetration matched Wall Street’s expectations. ### Where did the 20 million figure come from? Microsoft provided the figure directly on its April 29 earnings call. Nadella said the company now had “over 20 million Microsoft 365 Copilot paid seats” and described the pace as accelerating from the prior quarter. CNBC also reported the company had crossed 20 million paid seats for the add-on tied to commercial Microsoft 365 subscriptions. (microsoft.com) TechCrunch, which also covered the earnings call, reported that the 20 million total referred to paid enterprise Copilot seats inside Microsoft 365 applications including Word, Excel and Outlook. That matters because Microsoft has several Copilot products across Windows, GitHub and other services, while this figure is specifically tied to the workplace productivity suite. (microsoft.com) ### What else did Microsoft say about adoption? Nadella paired the seat count with other adoption markers on the call. He said the number of customers with more than 50,000 seats had quadrupled year over year, and named Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Mercedes and Roche as customers with more than 90,000 seats each. He also pointed to Accenture’s deployment of more than 740,000 seats, calling it Microsoft’s largest Copilot win to date. (techcrunch.com) TechCrunch reported another usage metric from Nadella: Copilot queries per user rose nearly 20% quarter over quarter, and weekly engagement had reached the same level as Outlook, which he described as evidence of habitual use. Those comments were part of Microsoft’s broader effort to show that Copilot is not only being purchased but also used regularly after deployment. (techcrunch.com) ### Why is this number getting fresh attention on May 21? Fortune’s May 21 article revisited the 20 million figure as part of a broader examination of Microsoft’s AI position and Nadella’s focus on Copilot. The article said analysts saw adoption accelerating, but also said penetration remained below what some on Wall Street had hoped for, leaving the product under continued scrutiny. Fortune framed Copilot as a strategic priority as Microsoft tries to defend its standing in business software while spending heavily on AI infrastructure and products. (techcrunch.com) Microsoft’s own earnings materials put that scrutiny in a larger financial context. The company reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $82.9 billion and said its AI business annual recurring revenue had surpassed $37 billion, while continuing to highlight Copilot as a growth driver inside Microsoft 365. ### Is Microsoft still adding Copilot features while investors watch uptake? (finance.yahoo.com) Microsoft has continued to add product changes around Copilot as it tries to deepen usage. TechCrunch reported that Nadella highlighted agent mode as a default experience across Copilot and in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, allowing multistep actions inside documents. He also said Microsoft was emphasizing support for multiple models rather than tying Copilot to a single provider. (finance.yahoo.com) Microsoft’s next major public venue for AI product updates is Build, which the company says will run on June 2-3, 2026, in San Francisco and online. That event gives Microsoft another scheduled opportunity to present new Copilot features and respond to questions about adoption after the April earnings disclosure and Fortune’s May 21 report. (build.microsoft.com) (techcrunch.com)