Microsoft Unveils Agent 365 and Next-Gen Agentic AI for Microsoft 365 Copilot

Today, Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft Commercial Business, announced the next wave of enterprise AI advancements for Microsoft 365 Copilot – supporting frontier transformation. Key news elements include:

Microsoft 365 Copilot is moving beyond assistance to embedded agentic capabilities that complete actions or get work done for you. Introducing Copilot Cowork, built in close collaboration with Anthropic, Microsoft is bringing the technology that powers Claude Cowork into Microsoft 365 Copilot to enable long-running, multi-step tasks.

This month, Microsoft is rolling out the next generation of agentic experiences for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook and Copilot Chat. (previously called agent mode).

Microsoft 365 Copilot is model-diverse by design. Starting today, Claude is now available in mainline Copilot Chat via the Frontier program, alongside the latest generation of OpenAI models.

Anthropic. Photo by AP

Agent 365, the control plane for AI agents, will become generally available on May 1 for $15 per user. Agent 365 gives IT and security leaders a single place to observe, govern, manage, and secure agents across the organization – using the same infrastructure, applications, and protections they rely on to manage people today.

Microsoft is bringing intelligence + trust together with the new Microsoft 365 E7 Frontier Suite – generally available on May 1 for $99 per user. Microsoft 365 E7 unifies Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Agent 365 into a single solution powered by Work IQ and integrated with the apps and security stack customers already rely on. It includes Microsoft Entra Suite and advanced Defender, Intune, and Purview security capabilities, delivering comprehensive protection across agents and employees.

Looking ahead, the Microsoft Hong Kong AI Tour will take place on April 22, where Judson will be in Hong Kong to share how organizations can transform and lead in the AI era. Stay tuned for more updates.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has received $110 billion in funding from Amazon, SoftBank and Nvidia, putting the technology company's pre-money valuation at $730 billion.

Amazon is leading the trio of tech heavyweights in commitments, putting up $50 billion, followed by $30 billion each from Nvidia and SoftBank, said OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman on Friday. Other investors are anticipated to join as the funding round progresses.

Amazon will start with an initial $15 billion investment and will invest another $35 billion in the coming months under preset conditions.

“These partnerships expand our global reach, deepen our infrastructure, and strengthen our balance sheet so we can bring frontier AI to more people, more businesses, and more communities worldwide,” he wrote.

Altman said that ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly active users, and more than 50 million consumer subscribers.

“We are entering a new phase where frontier AI moves from research into daily use at global scale,” he said. “Leadership will be defined by who can scale infrastructure fast enough to meet demand, and turn that capacity into products people rely on. This funding and these partnerships let us do both, and move faster on our mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity.”

OpenAI and Amazon's multiyear partnership will include bringing new advanced AI capabilities to enterprises and having Amazon Web Services serve as the exclusive third-party cloud distribution provider for OpenAI Frontier. OpenAI and AWS will expand their current $38 billion multiyear deal by $100 billion over eight years. The companies will partner on developing customized models available to Amazon developers to power Amazon’s customer-facing applications.

OpenAI said it is also expanding its partnership with Nvidia.

OpenAI and Microsoft have had a partnership since 2019. OpenAI said in a statement that nothing about the funding or new partners announced Friday “in any way changes the terms” of its relationship with Microsoft.

“The partnership remains strong and central,” OpenAI said.

FILE - The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cellphone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)