Copilot Chat for businesses to boost AI adoption

On January 15, 2025, Microsoft introduced a new chat service that enables businesses to deploy AI agents for routine tasks on a pay-as-you-go basis, aiming to boost technology adoption. The free offering, called Copilot Chat, is powered by OpenAI's GPT-4. It allows users to create AI agents using natural languages like English and Mandarin for tasks such as conducting market research, drafting strategy documents, and preparing for meetings.

Certain features, such as summarizing and transcribing Teams calls or generating PowerPoint slides, are only available with a USD30 per month Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription. Like other major tech firms, Microsoft faces mounting pressure to justify its significant investments in AI. The company is expected to allocate approximately $80 billion in its current fiscal year toward data centers and AI infrastructure. 

Following a Gartner report last year that questioned the adoption of Copilot, Microsoft has been actively promoting its usage. In November 2024, the company introduced a feature enabling customers to develop autonomous agents with minimal human oversight—a move that some analysts believe could provide tech companies with an easier route to revenue generation.