Today Microsoft is announcing:
Wave 3 of Microsoft 365 Copilot
Expanded model diversity with Claude and next-gen OpenAI models available today
General availability of Agent 365 on May 1 for $15 per user
General availability of the new Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite on May 1 for $99 per user
Frontier Transformation is a holistic reimagining of business, aligning AI with human ambition to achieve an organization’s highest aspirations. It is the next evolution of AI Transformation — not only do we need to deliver efficiency and productivity, but we need to democratize intelligence and do more for humanity. Companies do not want or need more AI experimentation. They need AI that delivers real business outcomes and growth.
In my daily conversations with customers and partners, they typically question what the most important components of an AI solution are. Is it the model? Is it silicon? At Microsoft, we believe the two most essential elements of Frontier Transformation are Intelligence + Trust. Organizations need to harness their own unique work intelligence as they build agents and solutions; and all AI artifacts across their technology stack must be observed, managed and secured to ensure they are delivering value responsibly.
Intelligence that shows up in real work
I often say that zero-shot artifact creation is nothing more than a parlor trick. Models can reason over data, produce draft documents, presentations and spreadsheets, but they do not understand work. Real differentiation comes from intelligence — deep work context, embedded in the tools people already use. AI should amplify your intelligence but do so in a manner that protects your differentiation and unique value.
Work IQ amplifies an individual’s IQ by tapping into your organization’s IQ. It is the intelligence layer that enables Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents to know how you work, with whom you work, and the content upon which you collaborate. That is why Copilot is faster, more accurate and more trusted than solutions built on models and connectors alone.
This month, we are unleashing Work IQ with our next generation of agentic experiences in Wave 3 of Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Employees will have an enhanced chat experience in Copilot with the ability to create and augment artifacts, and the power to build their own agents within the canvas they work in every day.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is model diverse by design. Rather than betting on a single model, we built a system that makes every model useful at work. Customers get the choice, performance and flexibility in an open, heterogenous environment. Copilot leverages leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic, operating openly across clouds and data services without locking customers in. Claude is now available in mainline chat in Copilot via the Frontier program, alongside the latest generation of OpenAI models.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 3 is not just a singular release of new capabilities but rather a commitment to continuous innovation. We will bring frontier capabilities with enterprise promises for our customers in an open and model diverse manner. Another great example of this is Copilot Cowork, which is in research preview. Built in close collaboration with Anthropic, we are bringing the technology that powers Claude Cowork into Microsoft 365 Copilot to enable long-running, multi-step work that unfolds over time. Click here to learn about our Wave 3 news in more detail.
These announcements come as our customers across industries are already seeing the value of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft recently delivered its strongest quarter yet with Copilot, with paid seats growing more than 160% year over year and daily active usage up ten times, as customers increasingly make Copilot a core part of everyday work. Expansion is also accelerating as the number of customers deploying Copilot at significant scale — more than 35,000 seats — tripled year over year. Just last week, Mercedes Benz announced a global rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot, following recent investments from NASA, Fiserv, ING, the University of Kentucky, the University of Manchester, the U.S. Department of the Interior and Westpac. This is in addition to the 90 percent of the Fortune 500 who now use Copilot.
Trust: from agent experimentation and sprawl to enterprise control
The speed of agent development and proliferation tells us customers see value, but without guardrails the pace of adoption turns into blind spots, diminished ROI and real security risk. As AI agents become more capable and autonomous, trust is nonnegotiable. IDC predicts 1.3B agents in circulation by 2028, and 80% of the Fortune 500 are already using Microsoft agents, led by operationally complex industries like manufacturing, financial services and retail.
That is why I am excited to announce the May 1 general availability of Microsoft Agent 365, the control-plane for AI agents. Priced at $15 per user, Agent 365 gives IT and security leaders a single place to observe, govern, manage and secure agents across the organization — using the same infrastructure, applications and protections they rely on to manage people today.
We are seeing tremendous momentum with our preview customers. In just two months, tens of millions of agents have appeared in the Agent 365 Registry. We have tens of thousands of customers that are already adopting Agent 365 to securely govern and scale AI agents across enterprise workflows.
At Microsoft, we are also using Agent 365 as Customer Zero and the early signals are clear. We now have visibility into more than 500,000 agents across the company with the most widely used focused on research, coding, sales intelligence, customer triage and HR self-service. That adoption is translating into real work. Over the past 28 days alone, agents have been generating more than 65,000 responses every day for employees. This is evidence that we are not simply experimenting, we are embedding agents in the flow of everyday work and empowering human ambition.
Introducing the Frontier Suite
To meet this demand, I am thrilled to announce we are bringing Intelligence + Trust together with Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite. Microsoft 365 E7 unifies Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agent 365 into a single solution powered by Work IQ and integrated with the apps and security stack customers already rely on. It includes Microsoft Entra Suite and advanced Defender, Intune and Purview security capabilities, delivering comprehensive protection across agents and employees.
Customers have told us E5 alone is no longer enough; they do not want multiple tools stitched together, they want one trusted solution. At $99 per user, E7 is priced below purchasing these capabilities à la carte, giving customers a simpler, more cost-effective way to deploy enterprise AI at scale.
With the general availability of Agent 365 and the latest agentic experiences in Microsoft 365 Copilot offered as one Frontier suite, AI moves from experimentation to durable, enterprise-wide value, built on a foundation of Intelligence + Trust. This is how we make Frontier Transformation real. Microsoft is not just imagining the future of AI, we are empowering organizations across industries and around the world to build it.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings