Built in collaboration with Anthropic, Microsoft’s new tool can create spreadsheets, run reports and perform searches autonomously.
Katelyn Chedraoui Writer I
Katelyn is a writer at CNET who covers artificial intelligence, including chatbots and image and video generators. His work explores how new AI technologies are infiltrating our lives, shaping the content we consume on social media, and affecting the people behind the screens. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in media and journalism. You can reach her at kchedraoui@cnet.com.
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Microsoft Co-pilot It’s probably not something you think about much, unless your company pays for you to use it at work. Microsoft is fighting for consumers whose hearts and minds have been quickly captured by other AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. The company’s latest wave of agent updates, announced Monday, constitute its most powerful weapon yet.
The biggest new feature is Copilot Cowork, built in collaboration with Anthropic. If you have heard of or used Anthropic Claude CoworkMicrosoft’s version will be similar. Copilot Cowork may use information in your files, emails, and calendar to perform tasks independently, without any human supervision. It can create spreadsheets, generate reports and perform research for you.
“Coworking is the new chat. It’s the new way to interact with AI,” said Charles Lamanna, president of Microsoft’s Business Applications and Agents. Instead of supervising and chatting with the AI, we can now fully delegate tasks to it like a colleague. “With chat, you monitor every step. It’s much more like ‘fire and forget’ with Cowork to get the job done.”
Cowork is an agent in Microsoft Cowork. Here he performs a few tasks where you can track his progress.
MicrosoftFor example, Lamanna said she used Cowork to analyze her meeting schedule for the next three months. The AI used his email and calendar history to understand which upcoming meetings he might not need to attend, and collated his recommendations into an easy-to-view table. After Lamanna reviewed it, Cowork declined some meetings, with AI-written meeting notes attached if necessary. The AI’s “enjoyable and convenient” 40-minute process saved him and his executive assistant hours so they could focus on more important tasks.
Cowork is now being deployed on a limited basis as it is a research preview concept. Microsoft also announced that it will make its AI agent platform, Agent 365, generally available on May 1. Agent 365 is a way for businesses to monitor and manage all the agents, or bots, that employees use for their jobs. Microsoft itself has created more than half a million AI agents using Agent 365, the company shared in a statement. New AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI will also be available in Copilot. Smartly, the company isn’t taking sides in the growing feud between AI startups.
Learn more: AI is not human and we need to stop treating it that way, says Microsoft AI CEO
Agentic AI at work
Agentic AI tools like those developed by Microsoft are extremely popular among workers. Although only a taste of the research, Claude Cowork has attracted many fans and caused much concern on Wall Street. Major tech stocks fell in late January as Anthropic’s AI developments sowed doubt about the future of work.
New AI tools like Cowork, Claude Code, and even OpenAI’s Codex are increasingly capable of replacing traditional software products, like those Microsoft is known for. So it makes sense that Microsoft would want to bring this agentic prowess to its own AI. Agentic AI has recently become a major area of interest for AI companies. OpenClaw, an open source agentic project that went viral this year, is one of many examples of why tech executives believe 2026 will be the year of agentic AI.
Lamanna said “the shape of what we do every day will change,” but AI should give people time back to focus on high-value tasks. “We are entering a new arc, going from a human using AI to complete a task faster to delegating it entirely to an AI agent,” he said.
As this technology becomes more available, many questions arise about how best to integrate AI into our professional lives. Many workers worry about AI replacing their jobs, fueled by AI-centric layoffs at Amazon and Block. For those who manage to keep their jobs, one study found that AI can actually make their workdays longer and less enjoyable. Like any new technology, the implementation of AI will determine its effectiveness and how much it actually helps you.