Microsoft adds Autopilot agent and usage billing to Copilot

Microsoft is overhauling its Copilot ecosystem by dividing the application into three dedicated hubs: Home, Code, and Autopilot. The standout addition is Autopilot, an autonomous agent built on OpenClaw and formerly codenamed Scout. Operating as an always-on assistant, each Autopilot instance runs on its own cloud computer with dedicated storage, workspace, and identity. This allows the agent to independently monitor Teams channels, manage supplier evaluations, and execute recurring workflows even when the user is offline. Users can summon the agent using an @mention in Teams, Outlook, or documents.

The other two sections target productivity and development. The Code hub, running on Copilot Managed Runtime and utilizing GitHub Copilot technology, enables non-technical users to build applications and dashboards using natural language. The Home hub integrates Word, Excel, and PowerPoint directly, and will introduce a Today dashboard in October for private preview to consolidate emails, tasks, and calendar events. Home and Code will roll out in the coming weeks through Microsoft's Frontier program, with Code arriving later this year for Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers. Autopilot will enter private preview in late September.

Crucially, Microsoft is abandoning flat-rate pricing for its advanced tools. Autopilot, Code, and Cowork will transition to usage-based billing, leaving the standard Copilot license to cover only basic chat and Office integrations. To manage these costs, Microsoft is introducing FinOps-for-AI tools and an automated router. This router selects the most cost-effective model for a given task, prioritizing Microsoft's efficient in-house models but retaining the ability to call frontier models like OpenAI's Astra and Anthropic's Fable.

For enterprise practitioners and IT administrators, this update represents a major shift in how AI is deployed and budgeted. Administrators gain granular control over which model families specific user groups can access, helping balance performance against the new variable costs. While the autonomous capabilities of Autopilot promise to significantly reduce manual administrative overhead, organizations must now actively monitor their consumption metrics to avoid unexpected bills as Microsoft stops subsidizing heavy AI usage.