Microsoft Expands Copilot Access to Office 365 Subscribers But at a Cost

Not too long ago, new Copilot features came out for business users at the Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2 event. We also got to know how Copilot in Microsoft Excel has the power to run Python code and perform advanced data analysis. Well, now, Microsoft is going all out and making it easier for Office 365 Personal and Family users to access Copilot in not just Excel, but Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.

Previously, Microsoft was charging a hefty additional $20 per month from Office 365 Personal and Family subscribers for access to Copilot AI features. While the Personal plan costs $6.99 per month, the Family plan sets you back at $9.99. So, you will end up paying double or more the amount of the subscription itself to use those Copilot AI features, which is mad.

Microsoft has probably realized how ridiculous that is and has now bundled Copilot within those subscriptions itself. However, this change has been applied only in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan for now.

In the official blog post, Microsoft states,

“Productivity and creativity are at the heart of Microsoft 365, and with Copilot integration across our apps you’re now equipped with an AI companion that doesn’t just make your work easier—it makes it more effective (and fun)”.

Then, Microsoft goes on to give a quick rundown of how Copilot further elevates the Office 365 experience within its apps. For those unaware, in Microsoft Word, you can summon Copilot AI to summarize and rewrite text for you as well as create custom images, transform text into tables, and more.

Meanwhile, in PowerPoint, Copilot can create presentations for you from Word documents or PDFs, from scratch. Additionally, Copilot can also add speaker notes automatically, synchronize animations, and just make presentations easier to create.

Outlook and OneNote are also injected with Copilot. They now let you draft emails, summarize email threads, create lists, generate ideas, and do a lot more. However, it’s not an all-you-can-AI buffet and will offer you a set of AI credits to use on a monthly basis. If you’re someone who uses Copilot a lot, you can always upgrade to Copilot Pro. Microsoft says, this way, you don’t need to worry about the usage limit.

Not everything is perfect, though, and Microsoft is increasing the prices of its Office 365 Personal and Family subscriptions. For example, the Australian market has seen a $4 monthly increment to the Family plan. The region’s Personal plan has seen an increase of $5. However, that’s still a lot less than the $33 that Microsoft was previously asking for access to Copilot.

Microsoft states,

“To reflect the value we’ve added over the past decade and enable us to deliver new innovations for years to come, we’re increasing the prices of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family. The price increase will apply to existing subscribers upon their next renewal.”

In addition, Microsoft also notes that those on the Microsoft 365 Family subscription will not be able to share Copilot. It will only be limited to the subscription owner. Microsoft is testing out the price increment in these markets to get an idea of how users react to it. Depending on the reception, Microsoft may bring these changes in other markets as well.

If you ask me, I see this as a double-edged sword. One of the biggest ways to use AI responsibly is to get rid of too much reliance on it. With Copilot AI now being part of almost every Microsoft service out there, it’s basically unignorable. So, it’s up to us to strike the right balance and maintain that human touch in our work to keep AI from taking over.

With that said, what do you think about Microsoft’s latest move to make Copilot more accessible? Cry your heart out in the comments down below!