Microsoft Releases Copilot Cowork to Automate Enterprise Workflows Across Microsoft 365

Microsoft’s Copilot Cowork, the AI-powered productivity agent first announced in March, is now generally available after completing its preview phase. The company has developed Copilot Cowork in “close collaboration” with the AI startup Anthropic.

The Copilot Cowork feature works like an intelligent digital teammate that is designed to take on entire tasks from start to finish rather than just offering suggestions. Users describe what they need, and it handles the process on its own, which involves pulling in relevant data, using different tools, and producing a complete result.

Over the past few months, Copilot Cowork has been widely adopted by over half of the Fortune 500 companies, including Accenture, Avanade, and Advance Local. Microsoft highlighted that early users reported major productivity gains by automating complex tasks that previously required significant manual effort.

“Cowork is the fastest growing feature in the history of our Frontier program, and Cowork has among the highest user satisfaction of any Copilot or agent experience we have shipped. We learned from what we saw, engaged with you along the way, and used everything we heard to improve quality and add new features, including model choice, extensibility through plugins, and new cost management controls,” said Charles Lamanna, EVP, Copilot, Agents and Platform at Microsoft.

New plugin support and enterprise web browsing capabilities

With this release, Copilot Cowork is getting a new integration with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for smoother workflow transitions. Moreover, Microsoft has introduced support for third-party plugins, including Miro, Monday.com, and financial data platforms. This update also introduces the ability to browse the web via Microsoft Edge within enterprise controls.

At launch, Copilot Cowork uses advanced AI models from Anthropic (such as Opus 4.8 and Sonnet 4.6), and customers enrolled in the Frontier program can also access GPT‑5.5. Microsoft is also planning to launch a new model called Cowork 1, which is designed to improve performance while reducing costs.

This model aims to handle business tasks more efficiently, offer enterprise‑level reliability, and minimize issues like bias. This makes it a cost-effective choice for organizations that need to manage expenses.

Usage-based pricing model

Currently, Copilot Cowork is available to all commercial customers with a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription. Copilot Cowork follows a usage-based pricing approach rather than a fixed-cost model. Each task consumes “Copilot Credits,” and the total cost depends on factors such as the AI model selected, how much data is retrieved, which tools are used, and how long the task runs.

Check out this article on Petri.com for more information on Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing.

How can organizations optimize AI spending with Copilot Cowork?

Copilot Cowork includes several features to help IT admins control and manage their spending in enterprise environments. Administrators have the ability to decide when the tool is enabled, who can access it, and how much can be spent by setting budgets and limits.

It also offers clear visibility into usage and provides detailed reports on costs at the user, group, and organizational levels. Enterprise admins can improve efficiency through options like selecting different AI models and choosing suitable payment plans, which allow businesses to optimize costs based on their needs.