Microsoft Changes Directions with Copilot Branding, Delivery Yet Again

Mary Jo Foley is the Editor in Chief at Directions on Microsoft. Before joining Directions, Mary Jo has worked as... more

If you thought Microsoft’s Copilot branding already was hard to decipher, get ready for more confusing changes. As of mid-Jan. 2025, Microsoft will be shifting its Copilot branding and delivery in ways that also will affect Windows and the Microsoft 365 app.

A quick recap: Microsoft already had muddied the branding waters by referring to both the former Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise experiences as “Microsoft Copilot.” The main difference between the two was that Bing Chat Enterprise required users to sign in with their Entra IDs to get more functionality and a level of data protection for end users.

Bing Chat Enterprise = Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

As of Jan. 2025, Microsoft will rebrand the Bing Chat Enterprise version of Microsoft Copilot as “Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.” Just to be (un)clear, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is different from Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat — the Microsoft 365 Copilot UI feature formerly known as Microsoft 365 Chat.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, just like its Bing Chat Enterprise predecessor, will be available to those who sign in with their Entra ID accounts. As of Fall 2024, Bing Chat Enterprise included “Enterprise Data Protection” (EDP) instead of Commercial Data Protection. EDP adds prompt and response retention and guarantees that prompts and responses will stay in the Microsoft 365 service boundary.

In addition to providing EDP, the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat “will allow end users to discover, create, and use agents,” according to Microsoft. Agents, such as those that access shared work data, will be billed based on metered consumption for users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, which is not a significant change from the current model. Agents grounded only on web data will be available to use at no additional cost, Microsoft says. (We’ve asked about agent creation and how that will work for those without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license; no word back yet from Microsoft.)

Update – Dec. 20: “Agent use will be billed based on metered consumption through Copilot Studio” starting in Jan. 2025, a spokesperson verified.

In spite of all of these changes, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat will remain free, rather than sell for $30 per user per month like Microsoft 365 Copilot does. So it’s Microsoft 365 in name (not licensing or pricing) only.

Update (Jan. 15, 2025): Microsoft re-announced Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, emphasizing its ability to consume and create agents. M365 Copilot Chat seemingly is the “freemium” tier of Microsoft 365 Copilot; it’s free for those signing in with Entra IDs, but will require users to set up Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) licensing and use Copilot Studio metering to consume and create agents that access work data.

Microsoft 365 app = Microsoft 365 Copilot app

Microsoft also is going to rebrand the Microsoft 365 app (the Windows and web apps that allow users to access OneDrive and Office apps) as the “Microsoft 365 Copilot app” even though only some of its users will have paid for Microsoft 365 Copilot. The changes to the Microsoft 365 app are slated to happen starting in mid-January and to roll out gradually to all users. (Microsoft earlier this year announced it will replace the Copilot mobile apps with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.)

As part of this change, Microsoft will be dropping the existing Microsoft 365 app icon and replacing it with a new “Microsoft 365 Copilot” app icon, which features the Microsoft 365 Copilot logo. (See screen shot embedded in this post which compares the current icon and the new icon.) Microsoft also will be moving existing elements, like the header, in the current app and eliminating some components (such as “My Day”) as part of the move to put AI features front and center.

The changes to the Microsoft 365 app are slated to happen starting in mid-January and to roll out gradually to all users.

As part of this wave of rebranding moves, Microsoft is planning to introduce a new URL “to make it easier to discover Microsoft 365 Copilot on the web”: M365Copilot.com. And those who go to office.com and microsoft365.com will automatically redirect to m365.cloud.microsoft. (These new URLs are not yet live, as of mid-Dec. 2024.)

Yet More Copilot Changes for Windows

Earlier this year, Microsoft abandoned its 2023 plans to integrate Copilot with Windows so that it could help users perform certain Windows tasks (such as turning on dark mode) and ultimately with other non-Windows-specific tasks in Office and other apps. Microsoft unbundled Copilot from Windows and instead, made it available as a Progressive Web App (PWA) that was little more than the Copilot (Bing) website in Edge.

In another shift announced in early Dec. 2024, Microsoft is making the Microsoft Copilot app for Windows only available to consumer users authenticating with a Microsoft account; it no longer works for business users authenticating with a Microsoft Entra account. This means admins are going to need to take extra steps if they want employees authenticating with Entra to access Copilot via the Copilot key that Microsoft and PC makers are including in keyboards for new devices.

Microsoft currently is testing the latest iteration of its Copilot app for Windows with Windows Insider testers. The current “native” Copilot app still just provides a view of the Copilot web site, however.

These rebrandings and repositionings cap off a year of flux for Microsoft’s various Copilots. Microsoft’s lack of a cohesive, consistent strategy around this set of technologies should inspire caution among commercial customers. Even though Microsoft is betting its business on Copilots and related AI technologies, customers who opt to do so at this early stage should be prepared for lots of changes and uncertainty.