Microsoft announced three new Copilot experiences on September 25: Home, Code and Autopilot. They bring conversational work, software creation and persistent agents into the same product family, but they do not share one availability date.
In its announcement, Microsoft says Home and Code will begin rolling out through its Frontier program in the coming weeks. Autopilot is expanding in private preview at the end of September.
What each experience does
Home brings Chat and Cowork together and adds Office capabilities within Copilot. Microsoft describes workflows that create or update editable documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
Code lets users describe a small application or workflow in natural language. Microsoft says it uses technology underlying GitHub Copilot and can run in a sandboxed environment within an organization’s tenant. The accompanying Copilot Managed Runtime is in preview.
Autopilot is intended for work that continues between user prompts, such as following a process over several days. Microsoft describes a cloud-hosted agent with its own identity, memory and workspace.
Persistent work also changes the bill
Microsoft distinguishes ordinary subscription use from longer-running work billed by usage. The announcement places Cowork, Code and Autopilot among the capabilities using usage-based billing and introduces additional spending controls.
For customers, the practical questions are the task’s permissions, where it runs and how its consumption is limited. A persistent agent can do useful work while a person is away, but that makes reviewable actions and spending boundaries more important.
Our guide to inbox agents outlines checks for one common use case. WPBV Radio has reviewed the announcement; we have not independently tested these newly announced experiences.
