The short answer: On September 25, 2026, Microsoft introduced “the new Copilot,” rebuilding the Copilot app around three capabilities: Home (Chat and Cowork in one place, with Word, Excel and PowerPoint built in), Code (build apps, dashboards and automations from plain language) and Autopilot (a persistent agent, formerly called Scout, that keeps working without a prompt). It is rolling out first through Microsoft’s Frontier program. Everyday Copilot stays on a per-user license, while agentic work like Cowork, Code and Autopilot moves to usage-based billing.
Who should read this: CIOs, IT directors, security and compliance leads, and anyone who owns a Microsoft 365 Copilot budget.
What did Microsoft announce?
Microsoft didn’t ship another Copilot feature this fall. It changed what Copilot is. In the official announcement, Jared Spataro positioned the new Copilot as one place to ask, delegate, build and automate.
For the last few years, most organizations treated Copilot as an assistant you prompt. The new Copilot adds two things that assistant never had: the ability to build working solutions and the ability to keep working on its own. That shift matters more than any single feature, because it changes how you license, govern and measure Copilot.
I work with Microsoft 365 customers every week, and the question I hear most is simple: “Is this real, and what do I need to do about it?” This post answers both.
What are Home, Code and Autopilot?
The new Copilot is built on three capabilities, each suited to a different kind of work.
| Capability | What it does | Best for | Status at announcement (Sept 25, 2026) |
| Home | Brings Chat (instant answers) and Cowork (delegated, end-to-end tasks) together, with Word, Excel and PowerPoint built in through Office in Copilot | Daily work: drafting, analysis, RFP responses, briefings | Rolling out through the Frontier program |
| Code | Builds apps, trackers, dashboards and automations from natural language, using the same underlying technology as GitHub Copilot | Business users who need a small, purpose-built tool | Frontier first, then broader availability; preview for Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro later in 2026 |
| Autopilot (formerly Scout) | A cloud-hosted agent with its own tenant identity, memory and workspace that follows up, runs recurring work and acts without a prompt | Ongoing processes like supplier reviews or project follow-ups | Private preview |
Home: one front door for work
Chat is for quick questions. Cowork is for work you hand off and get back finished. Microsoft says that soon you won’t need to pick a mode at all; Copilot will route the request to Chat, Cowork or Code. With Office in Copilot, the output is a real, editable Word, Excel or PowerPoint file your team can work in together.
Code: the file is no longer the only unit of work
This is the part I’d watch most closely. Microsoft frames Code as adding a fourth unit of knowledge work next to the document, spreadsheet and deck: small solutions anyone can create. Code runs in a sandbox, and apps can be hosted inside your tenant through the new Microsoft Copilot Managed Runtime (in preview), which IT governs.
Autopilot: a digital teammate with an identity
Autopilot shows up in Teams, Outlook, chats and documents, and you can @mention it like a colleague. You give it a name, a role and a goal, and it keeps going while you’re away. Microsoft states that permissions, audit and governance sit behind it.
The supporting platform
- Microsoft IQ grounds Copilot in your business context. Fabric IQ (including Power BI semantic models) is generally available in Chat and Cowork, and grounding in Dynamics 365 and Power Platform data is rolling out in public preview.
- The plugin registry is one catalog for Microsoft, partner and custom plugins that IT can approve and manage centrally.
- Coming next: a proactive Today view in Home and @Copilot in Teams with shared channel and meeting context, both announced for private preview.
How is the new Copilot licensed and billed?
Copilot now has two spending models, and knowing which work falls under which is the single most important budgeting decision this year.
| Spending model | What Microsoft says it covers | Cost behavior |
| User subscription license (USL) | Copilot in Chat and across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams; model selection; Auto model routing | Fixed, per user |
| Usage-based billing (UBB) | Cowork, Code, Autopilot, long-running agentic capabilities and frontier models | Variable, tied to consumption |
Auto weighs accuracy, speed and cost on each request and picks the best-suited model. Admins can control which model families each group can use, and those settings also limit what Auto can choose.
Microsoft also announced FinOps for AI capabilities. Cost management in Agent 365 now extends to Code and Copilot Managed Runtime, admins can set spending policies through APIs and route credit requests into approval workflows, and end users can see their own credit usage in Copilot.
What to verify before you commit: The announcement describes the model, not the price list. Confirm SKUs, credit pricing, regional availability and your agreement terms against the Microsoft Copilot pricing update, Microsoft licensing documentation and your licensing partner. Don’t build a budget on blog posts, including this one.
What does the new Copilot mean for security and governance?
The governance question has changed from “what can Copilot see?” to “what can Copilot do, and who is accountable when it acts?” Here is where I’d focus.
- Oversharing still comes first. Copilot grounds answers in what users can already access. If permissions on SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams are too broad, an agent that acts on its own will spread that problem faster.
- Agents now have identities. Autopilot runs with its own tenant identity, memory and workspace. Treat it like a new kind of account: define who can create one, what it can reach and how its activity is audited.
- Citizen-built apps need guardrails. Code and Copilot Managed Runtime let anyone build and share tools connected to live data. Decide who can publish, what data sources are allowed and how apps are reviewed before broad use.
- Plugins are a supply chain. Use the plugin registry to approve partner and custom plugins centrally instead of letting them spread team by team.
- Spend is now a control surface. Usage-based billing means a runaway agent is a budget risk as well as a security one. Set model access and spending policies before you scale.
Microsoft provides native controls for much of this across Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Entra, SharePoint Advanced Management and Agent 365. Where your requirements go beyond what those tools cover, call out the gap explicitly and evaluate whether a third-party tool is needed. Confirm current capabilities in Microsoft Learn, since many of these features are still in preview.
How should organizations prepare for the new Copilot?
You don’t need to adopt everything at once. A phased approach lets you capture value from Home now while you build the controls Code and Autopilot need.
- Get your data house in order. Review permissions and sensitivity labels, and clean up oversharing in SharePoint and Teams before expanding Copilot’s reach.
- Decide on Frontier participation. Home and Code arrive through the Frontier program first. Pick a small, willing pilot group rather than enabling the whole tenant.
- Map work to spending models. List the use cases you expect and sort them into USL (everyday Copilot) and UBB (Cowork, Code, Autopilot). Set model access and spend policies before the pilot starts.
- Write the rules for builders and agents. Define who can build with Code, who can publish apps to Copilot Managed Runtime, who can create an Autopilot agent and which plugins are approved.
- Measure outcomes, not logins. Use Copilot and Agent 365 reporting to see which tasks produce real results, then expand, adjust or stop.
- Train for the new mode of work. Delegating to Cowork and directing an agent are new skills. Teach people how to scope a task, review the result and stay accountable for it.
Frequently asked questions
When was the new Microsoft Copilot announced?
Microsoft announced the new Copilot with Home, Code and Autopilot on September 25, 2026, on the Official Microsoft Blog.
What is Microsoft Copilot Autopilot?
Autopilot, previously called Scout, is a persistent and proactive agent in Microsoft Copilot. It runs in the cloud with its own tenant identity, memory and workspace, and it continues working on goals you assign without waiting for a prompt.
What is Code in Microsoft Copilot?
Code lets users build apps, dashboards, trackers and automations by describing them in natural language. It uses the same underlying technology as GitHub Copilot and runs in a sandboxed environment that can be hosted in your tenant.
What is the difference between Chat and Cowork?
Chat answers quick questions and drafts content in conversation. Cowork takes a delegated task and runs it end to end to return a completed result, such as an RFP response or a customer briefing.
Do Code and Autopilot cost extra?
According to Microsoft, Cowork, Code and Autopilot run on usage-based billing, separate from the per-user Copilot license. Confirm exact pricing with Microsoft licensing documentation or your licensing partner.
Is the new Copilot available to everyone today?
Not yet. At announcement, Home and Code were rolling out through Microsoft’s Frontier program and Autopilot was in private preview. Check the Microsoft 365 roadmap for current status.
Do developers still use GitHub Copilot?
Yes. Microsoft says software developers continue to use GitHub Copilot for their day-to-day work, with more connectivity into the Copilot platform.
My take: Copilot is becoming a workforce, not a feature
The new Copilot asks leaders to manage AI the way they manage people and budgets: give it clear goals, set boundaries, review the results and watch the spend. The organizations that win won’t be the ones that turn everything on first. They’ll be the ones that pair a clean data foundation with clear rules for building and delegating.
My advice is to start with Home, pilot Code with a small group of motivated builders, and treat Autopilot as a governance design exercise before it’s a productivity one. Microsoft Ignite runs November 17–20, 2026, and I expect more detail on pricing, availability and admin controls there. I’ll update this post as Microsoft publishes it.
Ready to plan your next step? Covenant Technology Partners helps organizations assess Copilot readiness, design governance for agents and citizen-built apps, and build a licensing strategy that fits how your people actually work. [Contact our team] to start the conversation.
Kurt Rolland is a Microsoft MVP and Principal at Covenant Technology Partners.
Sources
- Introducing the new Copilot with Home, Code and Autopilot, Official Microsoft Blog, September 25, 2026
- Microsoft 365 roadmap
- Evolution of the Copilot pricing model, Microsoft Copilot Blog