微软今日将其面向企业的免费Copilot重新推出，命名为Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat，具备使用AI代理的能力。该产品旨在让人们在工作中习惯使用AI，其聊天界面包含Copilot AI代理，使用代理的费用较为复杂，实际聊天体验大体不变，且在企业中已有一定人气。

💻Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat是免费且安全的AI聊天，GPT驱动，可上传文件。

👥Copilot Chat界面现可接入Copilot AI代理，此前仅在付费版体验中有，代理可像虚拟同事工作。

💰使用Copilot Chat的代理将通过Copilot Studio meter在Azure中定价或按需付费，费用按消息计算。

📄Copilot Chat实际聊天体验不变，可总结文档、分析数据，企业用户众多。

Microsoft is relaunching its free Copilot for businesses as Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat today, complete with the ability to use AI agents. Copilot Chat is Microsoft’s latest attempt to get people used to using AI at work and relying on it enough to tempt them into paying $30 per month to get the full Microsoft 365 Copilot.

“It’s free and secure AI chat that’s GPT-powered,” explains Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer of AI at work, in an interview with The Verge. “You can upload files so it’s very comparable to the competition, in fact we think even at this level it bests the competition.” Spataro wouldn’t name the competition, but it’s clearly ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is essentially a rebranding of what was once Bing Chat Enterprise before Microsoft rebranded it to just Copilot. It crucially now includes access to Copilot AI agents right within the chat interface — which was previously only available in the full Microsoft 365 Copilot experience — requiring a $30 per user per month subscription. These agents are designed to work like virtual colleagues and can do things like monitor email inboxes or automate a series of tasks.

You’ll be able to create and use agents using Copilot Studio, use agents that rely on web data, and even use agents grounded on work data through the Microsoft graph. The usage of agents with Copilot Chat will be priced through the Copilot Studio meter in Azure or through a pay-as-you-go option.

“The first question people ask me is ‘am I writing you a blank check?’” says Spataro, but Microsoft has built controls for how people pay for AI agent access. “The way you can control the spinning of the meters is paying in different ways. One way is pay-as-you-go, that is essentially an open account or tab that you’re burning down, but the other way to do it is through consumption packs, and when the pack runs out you’re done.”

Image: Microsoft

The pricing and consumption rates are a little complicated, though. Microsoft measures agent usage in messages, so classic answers that don’t hit large language models are priced as one message, whereas generative answers cost two messages and anything accessing the Microsoft Graph (including files stored in SharePoint) will cost 30 messages.

“A message is equivalent to 1 cent, so you can essentially convert it over to 1 cent, 2 cents, and 30 cents,” explains Spataro. “It spins an Azure meter and it burns down a customer’s MACC (Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment).”

Microsoft provides some example cost calculations for businesses that might be tempted to use AI agents through Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat:

A hypothetical agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat uses data stored in Microsoft Graph to answer employee questions about HR policies. Yesterday, the agent consumed 200 generative answers and 200 tenant Graph grounding for messages. Therefore, it would cost 6,400 messages or $64 for that day.

The actual chat experience in Copilot Chat is largely unchanged, and it uses GPT-4o for queries. You can also upload files to Copilot Chat and have it summarize Word documents or even analyze data in Excel spreadsheets. You can do the same thing directly within Word or Excel if you pay for the full Microsoft 365 Copilot, instead of having to upload files manually. Spataro says Microsoft doesn’t have any plans to enable a trial mode of Microsoft 365 Copilot, but it’s clear Copilot Chat is designed to tempt businesses into paying to get Copilot inside Office apps.

Copilot Chat is already popular among businesses that rely on Microsoft software and services. “We had Bing Chat Enterprise that we renamed, and despite the fact that the naming journey has been hard to track and it’s hard to find the product, we have a remarkable number of users on it,” says Spataro. “What we find is that when you start to use it, you become accustomed to and appreciative of the value that it can provide at work.”

With an ongoing debate over the value of a $30 per user per month subscription to Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft will be hoping that Copilot Chat can help convert a lot more businesses over to its AI way of thinking.