REDMOND, Washington, March 10, 2026, 06:11 PDT
Microsoft on Monday rolled Anthropic’s tech into its Microsoft 365 Copilot lineup, launching a fresh feature dubbed Copilot Cowork. The company also pulled the wraps off new workplace AI management software, moving further into the world of AI agents—tools that handle complex, multi-step jobs with only minimal human input.
Timing’s been a factor. Anthropic dropped plug-ins for legal, sales, marketing, and data tasks, sparking a wide software sector selloff back in February. Since January, Microsoft’s faced investor pressure—demands to prove hefty AI outlays can fuel growth at a pace that keeps up.
Microsoft is moving to ease worries about how much it leans on OpenAI. In January, the company revealed that OpenAI made up 45% of its cloud contract backlog. This week, Microsoft announced that the latest Claude Sonnet models are coming to Copilot, joining the lineup with newer OpenAI models.
Cowork remains in research preview, accessible only to a select group of customers for now, but Microsoft plans to roll it out to its broader Frontier early-access program later in March. Charles Lamanna, president of business applications and agents, described the tool as designed so Copilot can “take action, not just chat,” drawing on emails, meetings, files, and other Microsoft 365 data for context. Microsoft
Microsoft isn’t just pushing the AI features — it’s putting the controls up for grabs as well. The company said Agent 365, which serves as a central hub for managing AI agents, plus Microsoft 365 E7, its latest bundle merging Copilot, Agent 365, and added security offerings, will be broadly available starting May 1. Pricing lands at $15 per user monthly for Agent 365, and $99 per user for the E7 package.
Jared Spataro, head of Microsoft’s AI-at-work push, told Reuters the company is offering businesses tighter reins on where automated tools operate and which data they touch. Copilot Cowork? It’s strictly a cloud-only service, Spataro said. Microsoft’s $30 per-user, per-month Microsoft 365 Copilot plan covers some Copilot Cowork usage, but anything extra comes at an additional charge.
Microsoft edges in on Anthropic, despite Satya Nadella’s continued emphasis on OpenAI as the company’s AI linchpin. Back in November, Nadella described OpenAI as “a critical partner,” while also saying Microsoft and Anthropic would “go to market together.” Microsoft, along with Nvidia, laid out investment plans for Anthropic, after the AI startup pledged $30 billion for Azure. Reuters
Buyers may not keep pace with the marketing push. Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth, called the response to Anthropic’s new tools “still early in the process” and predicted companies would continue to rely on human oversight. JPMorgan strategists, including Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, said last month the market is already baking in disruption scenarios that are unlikely over the next three to six months. Microsoft now faces a near-term challenge: will AI agents prompt new spending, or just keep investors uneasy? Reuters
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