MICROSOFT
Image source: Microsoft
The Rundown: Microsoft just introduced Copilot Cowork, a new M365 feature built on Anthropic's Claude system that runs tasks in the background across apps — launching alongside a $99 enterprise bundle and a new platform for governing AI agents at scale. The details:
- Cowork operates in the cloud, pulling from emails, meetings, files, and chats across M365 — a contrast to Claude Cowork's current desktop-only approach.
- Microsoft built Cowork directly with Anthropic, using Claude Cowork’s tech but wrapped in M365's enterprise security and compliance layers.
- Users describe an outcome, and Cowork breaks it into steps, producing deliverables like decks, briefing docs, and workbooks across apps.
- Cowork is available in a limited research preview, coming with a new $99/user E7 tier that bundles Copilot with agent management and security tools.
Why it matters: If you can't beat the thing that scared your investors, absorb it. Embedding Anthropic's agent tech inside M365's security boundaries gives Copilot Cowork something Claude Cowork can't easily match (yet) — deep, integrated enterprise context across 450M users’ worth of emails, calendars, and files.