Microsoft begins merging Copilot apps into a single unified Super App across personal and work accounts
Microsoft began folding consumer Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot into a single unified app on August 13, led by EVP Jacob Andreou. From August 18, features including Podcasts, Group Chat and the free Deep Research tool will be retired.
Microsoft began merging its consumer Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot into a single unified app on August 13, with personal, work and school accounts recognized side by side behind one app shell. This is the first visible step toward what Microsoft internally calls a Copilot Super App, led by EVP Jacob Andreou, who took over unified Copilot following the March 17 leadership reshuffle.
From August 18, Microsoft will retire Podcasts, Group Chat and the free Deep Research tool. Copilot Labs and the Mico animated character are also being cut. The Deep Research replacement, called Researcher, will be available only to Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers at $19.99 per month. Free users lose a research tool they previously had.
On the product side, Microsoft has confirmed replacing OpenAI's image generation models in PowerPoint and Bing with its in-house MAI-Image-2, which ranks in the top three on the Arena.ai leaderboard. The swap is part of a broader strategy to deploy Microsoft's MAI model lineup and reduce reliance on OpenAI. In April this year Microsoft and OpenAI restructured their agreement: Microsoft gave up exclusive cloud-provider status, OpenAI can now run on Amazon, Google or Oracle infrastructure, revenue-sharing terms are capped through 2030, and in exchange Microsoft locked in IP access through 2032 while trimming its equity stake to roughly 27 percent.