It sounds useful, but much of it is familiar to anyone who uses ChatGPT, Claude or Google Gemini. Those platforms can draft and revise documents, analyze files, conduct research, write code and carry out multistep assignments.

And it may not be enough to win people over. Copilot has fallen far behind competing AI platforms. ChatGPT accounts for about 58% of U.S. web traffic to major AI chatbots, followed by Google Gemini at 19% and Claude at 13%. Microsoft Copilot accounts for less than 3%.

Microsoft has been in a similar position before. Windows once gave Internet Explorer an enormous advantage because it came with the operating system. Microsoft later replaced it with Edge and continued to make it the default for Windows users. Still, people chose Chrome. In the U.S., Chrome has about 55% of browser share compared with roughly 7% for Edge, as of August this year, according to StatCounter.

It is the old lead-a-horse-to-water problem. Microsoft can put Copilot in Windows and Office, but it cannot make people use it, and that gets harder the longer people use something else. If you rely on one of the popular AI platforms, you have learned how it works, your chats and projects are organized there and you try new models as they come out. Adding another AI, especially one few people have chosen, is a lot to ask.

Copilot does have two advantages. First, it works directly inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so you don’t have to download documents from one place and upload it to another. Second, Microsoft is putting limits on what its AI agents can do. Cowork prompts, responses and the files it creates run through the same Microsoft 365 controls companies already use, including audit logs. Autopilot, a new agent that works toward an assigned goal, gets its own identity, memory, computing environment and workspace.

The timing is good. AI agents have started doing things no one asked them to do. In July, OpenAI said a combination of its AI models had hacked into Hugging Face’s systems on their own, which OpenAI described as the first known autonomous cyberattack by an AI agent. On Sept. 25, OpenAI said its agents had gained access to 53 private images belonging to ChatGPT users and posted them to image-hosting sites. A week earlier, Google disclosed that Gemini gained unauthorized access to three outside systems during a test.

Most of the new features are aimed at businesses and will reach companies in Microsoft’s early-access program first. Microsoft 365 Copilot costs businesses $30 per user per month, paid annually, on top of a Microsoft 365 subscription. At home, you can use Copilot free for basic chat. Microsoft 365 Personal ($9.99 a month) and Family ($12.99) include Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Cowork, which handles larger tasks, requires Premium ($19.99) or Pro ($99.99).

If you prefer another AI, you can already use it inside Office. Here’s how.

1. Add it to your Office programs. In Word, Excel or PowerPoint, go to Insert, then Get Add-ins, and search for ChatGPT or Claude. On some versions the button is under Home, then Add-ins. ChatGPT installs as one add-in that works in all three programs, and you can start with a free account, though usage limits apply. Claude works in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, with Outlook in beta, and requires a paid plan. Google does not offer a Gemini add-in for Office, but Gemini can create Word and Excel files from a chat that you can download and open.
2. Work across programs without starting over. Claude remembers what you’ve been working on as you switch between Excel, Word and PowerPoint. For example, you can ask it to total your monthly expenses in Excel, then open PowerPoint and ask for a slide showing those totals. You don’t need to copy the numbers or explain the task again.
3. Review before you approve. Claude proposes spreadsheet edits in a side panel and asks for confirmation before making them, while Copilot’s Agent Mode can make changes on its own. Whichever you use, check what the AI plans to change before you say yes, especially in files you share with others.

Microsoft has built a capable product and placed it where its customers already work. That strategy worked for Windows and Office. It did not work for Internet Explorer. Now Microsoft has to show that Copilot is good enough to pull people away from the AI they already know.

Leslie Meredith has been writing about technology for more than a decade. As a mom of four, value, usefulness and online safety take priority. Have a question? Email Leslie at asklesliemeredith@gmail.com.