Microsoft Expands Copilot Cowork Access and Upgrades Researcher Tool

Microsoft announced significant updates to its Microsoft 365 Copilot on Monday, introducing enhancements to its Researcher tool and expanding access to the new Copilot Cowork feature through the company's Frontier early-access program. The changes, part of Wave 3 of the platform's development, aim to improve AI reliability and automate complex workplace tasks for enterprise users.

Copilot Cowork, unveiled earlier this month and built on technology from Anthropic's Claude Cowork, enables AI agents to handle multistep workflows across Microsoft 365 applications such as Excel, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint. Users can describe desired outcomes, and the system generates a plan, executes tasks autonomously, and provides progress updates through a dashboard. It supports one-off requests as well as recurring processes, including monthly budget reviews, calendar management, and daily briefings. Participants in the Frontier program, which offers select Microsoft 365 customers preview access to experimental features, can now test the tool and provide feedback before a broader release. The feature operates within an organization's data security and governance boundaries, allowing users to...