Microsoft Copilot Overhaul Adds Home, Code, and Autopilot

Microsoft has reorganized its Copilot AI into a unified workspace with three distinct destinations: Home, Code, and Autopilot. This overhaul merges four components and marks a strategic shift, positioning Copilot as the central nervous system of Microsoft 365 rather than a standalone feature.

Home serves as the new landing spot. It allows users to chat with Copilot to examine files and receive recommendations, showing recent activity and tasks it can help with. A new feature within Home, called Today, acts as a personal command center. It pulls relevant information from emails, Teams chats, and meetings without user prompting, highlighting missed items and proposing schedules. Microsoft plans to expand Today across Outlook and Teams later this year.

Code is designed to build apps from natural-language prompts. It uses the same underlying technology as GitHub Copilot but is aimed at allowing anyone to automate tasks or build simple apps without writing code. Code runs in a secure sandbox, connects to Microsoft's intelligence layer for context, and syncs with the rest of the workspace.

Autopilot, previously known internally as Scout, offers the highest level of automation. It acts like a digital teammate that manages ongoing work 24/7. It can be given a name, role, and a goal. Autopilot then handles tasks like scheduling meetings, following up with contacts, watching channels, and keeping projects moving across Teams, Outlook, and documents, even when offline. It has its own identity within a Microsoft 365 tenant, allowing it to participate in conversations and track decisions.

Autopilot and Home enter preview phases

Microsoft is rolling out the new capabilities in phases. Autopilot is scheduled to enter a private preview by the end of September 2026. An aspect of the Home experience, specifically Today, will enter a private preview in October 2026. Code will expand within Microsoft's Frontier program by the end of September, while the Office integration inside Copilot reaches consumers and Frontier customers in the coming weeks.

New capabilities deepen Copilot’s role in productivity

The suite gives Copilot more active control within applications. Home can take over Office 365 apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to draft files for users to edit. Autopilot coordinates tasks between team members automatically. All new Copilot experiences are powered by Microsoft IQ, a unified intelligence layer that connects data, workflows, and context across the Microsoft ecosystem, including insights from Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. Microsoft is also introducing a plugin registry that lets IT teams and developers extend Copilot with custom integrations.

Leadership frames Copilot as a foundational platform

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella set the direction, calling the new Copilot a "new OS for work." This claim echoes past internal projects, including the defunct Project Aion, which was intended to be a separate operating system built around Copilot. Nadella described the aim as designing AI so people stay in control of their tools, using them to expand ambition and creativity. He stated, "AI has to be shaped in such a way that it’s working for your firm to create and retain more knowledge."

Pricing for the heavier agentic features like Code and Autopilot is shifting to a usage-based billing model that is off by default. Public testing for the new Copilot overhaul begins in the coming weeks.