Microsoft Partners with Anthropic on Copilot Cowork

Microsoft announced on Monday a partnership with Anthropic to integrate the startup's Claude Cowork technology into its Microsoft 365 Copilot service, launching a new AI agent called Copilot Cowork designed to automate complex workplace tasks.

The tool, currently in testing with select customers, enables users to delegate multi-step workflows with minimal oversight. For instance, it can reschedule meetings, draft and send emails, conduct company research, manipulate spreadsheets, create presentations, and coordinate team preparations for customer meetings. Powered by Anthropic's Claude model and Microsoft's Work IQ system, which draws insights from users' emails, files, meetings, and chats, Copilot Cowork operates exclusively in a secure cloud environment within a customer's Microsoft 365 tenant. This setup ensures enterprise-grade data protection and governance, allowing users to track progress and approve actions.

"We work only in a cloud environment and we work only on behalf of the user, so you know exactly what information Copilot Cowork has access to," said Jared Spataro, who leads Microsoft's AI at Work efforts. He contrasted it with Anthropic's Claude Cowork, which runs...