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Microsoft CEO Defends AI Spending as Copilot Usage Grows

Microsoft CEO Defends AI Spending as Copilot Usage Grows
Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, posting $81.3 billion in revenue and $38.3 billion in net income while highlighting record cloud revenue of over $50 billion. CEO Satya Nadella emphasized that the company’s massive capital expenditures—$88.2 billion last year and $72.4 billion so far this year—are aimed at expanding AI services across Azure, Microsoft 365, and partner labs. He pointed to rapid growth in Copilot products, noting a near‑three‑fold increase in daily consumer users, 4.7 million paid GitHub Copilot subscribers, and 15 million paid seats for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Nadella insisted the AI demand far exceeds data‑center capacity, underscoring confidence that the spending will translate into broader adoption and future profit. Read more →

Microsoft Expands Free AI Features Across Office Suite

Microsoft Expands Free AI Features Across Office Suite
Microsoft is rolling out a new set of free AI capabilities to its Office apps, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The updates bring Copilot Chat enhancements that can scan an entire inbox and help schedule meetings without a paid Copilot license. Agent Mode, previously limited to paid subscribers, will now be available to all Microsoft 365 users, allowing complex document and spreadsheet generation and offering model choices between Anthropic and OpenAI. Microsoft plans to preview these additions by March 2026 and has introduced a lower‑priced Business Copilot plan for small and midsize firms. Read more →

Microsoft Reboots Outlook with AI‑First Vision Under New Leadership

Microsoft Reboots Outlook with AI‑First Vision Under New Leadership
Microsoft has reorganized its Outlook team, placing corporate vice president Gaurav Sareen in charge as Lynn Ayres steps away on sabbatical. Sareen’s internal memo outlines a plan to rebuild Outlook from the ground up for the AI era, integrating Copilot as a “body double” that reads messages, drafts replies, and manages schedules. The redesign emphasizes rapid, weekly feature experiments and a culture where AI shapes design, development, and shipping. Reporting to Office head Ryan Roslansky, the Outlook overhaul is part of a broader AI‑focused reorganization across Microsoft, aiming to make Outlook a true AI‑native partner for users. Read more →

Microsoft Expands Copilot with Groups, Real‑Talk Mode, and New Voice Character

Microsoft Expands Copilot with Groups, Real‑Talk Mode, and New Voice Character
Microsoft is rolling out major updates to its consumer Copilot AI assistant, adding a group chat feature that supports up to 32 participants, an optional “real talk” mode that matches users' tone and adds wit, and a new voice‑mode character named Mico. The updates also enhance Copilot’s memory capabilities, letting users see and delete stored facts, and improve health‑related answers with trusted sources. While the changes launch in the U.S. consumer version first, Microsoft hints at future extensions to its business‑focused Microsoft 365 Copilot. Read more →

Anthropic Connects Claude AI Assistant to Microsoft 365 Services

Anthropic Connects Claude AI Assistant to Microsoft 365 Services
Anthropic is rolling out an integration that links its Claude AI assistant with Microsoft 365 tools, including Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive. The connector lets Claude pull content from Word documents, chat threads, and email conversations, delivering contextual answers without manual uploads. Available now for Claude Team and Enterprise users, the feature requires admin activation. Anthropic also introduced enterprise search in Claude, enabling broader data retrieval across corporate sources. The integration relies on Anthropic’s open‑source Model Context Protocol (MCP), which Microsoft plans to adopt widely across its platforms. Read more →

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty
Microsoft has agreed to sell Office 365 suites without the Teams collaboration tool at a substantially lower price, ending a long‑standing European Union antitrust dispute. The settlement follows a complaint that Microsoft illegally tied Teams to its dominant Office suite, limiting competition. Under the deal, customers can switch to licenses that exclude Teams, move their data elsewhere, and benefit from price cuts that could halve the cost difference between bundled and unbundled suites. Competitors such as Slack, Google Meet and Zoom will gain greater interoperability, while Microsoft avoids a potential EU fine. Read more →

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote
Microsoft announced that all Microsoft 365 business users will receive a free Copilot Chat sidebar in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. The feature provides AI‑driven assistance such as drafting documents, summarizing content and analyzing spreadsheets without requiring a separate Microsoft 365 Copilot license. While the free version offers core capabilities, the paid Copilot subscription continues to deliver advanced features like file upload, image generation and access to newer models such as GPT‑5. The rollout comes with no price changes for business customers, and Microsoft plans to bundle additional sales, service and finance Copilots into its subscription later this year. Read more →

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty
Microsoft has agreed to sell Office 365 suites without the Teams collaboration tool at a substantially lower price, ending a long‑standing European Union antitrust dispute. The settlement follows a complaint that Microsoft illegally tied Teams to its dominant Office suite, limiting competition. Under the deal, customers can switch to licenses that exclude Teams, move their data elsewhere, and benefit from price cuts that could halve the cost difference between bundled and unbundled suites. Competitors such as Slack, Google Meet and Zoom will gain greater interoperability, while Microsoft avoids a potential EU fine. Read more →

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty
Microsoft has agreed to sell Office 365 suites without the Teams collaboration tool at a substantially lower price, ending a long‑standing European Union antitrust dispute. The settlement follows a complaint that Microsoft illegally tied Teams to its dominant Office suite, limiting competition. Under the deal, customers can switch to licenses that exclude Teams, move their data elsewhere, and benefit from price cuts that could halve the cost difference between bundled and unbundled suites. Competitors such as Slack, Google Meet and Zoom will gain greater interoperability, while Microsoft avoids a potential EU fine. Read more →

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote
Microsoft announced that all Microsoft 365 business users will receive a free Copilot Chat sidebar in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. The feature provides AI‑driven assistance such as drafting documents, summarizing content and analyzing spreadsheets without requiring a separate Microsoft 365 Copilot license. While the free version offers core capabilities, the paid Copilot subscription continues to deliver advanced features like file upload, image generation and access to newer models such as GPT‑5. The rollout comes with no price changes for business customers, and Microsoft plans to bundle additional sales, service and finance Copilots into its subscription later this year. Read more →

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote
Microsoft announced that all Microsoft 365 business users will receive a free Copilot Chat sidebar in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. The feature provides AI‑driven assistance such as drafting documents, summarizing content and analyzing spreadsheets without requiring a separate Microsoft 365 Copilot license. While the free version offers core capabilities, the paid Copilot subscription continues to deliver advanced features like file upload, image generation and access to newer models such as GPT‑5. The rollout comes with no price changes for business customers, and Microsoft plans to bundle additional sales, service and finance Copilots into its subscription later this year. Read more →

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty
Microsoft has agreed to sell Office 365 suites without the Teams collaboration tool at a substantially lower price, ending a long‑standing European Union antitrust dispute. The settlement follows a complaint that Microsoft illegally tied Teams to its dominant Office suite, limiting competition. Under the deal, customers can switch to licenses that exclude Teams, move their data elsewhere, and benefit from price cuts that could halve the cost difference between bundled and unbundled suites. Competitors such as Slack, Google Meet and Zoom will gain greater interoperability, while Microsoft avoids a potential EU fine. Read more →

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote
Microsoft announced that all Microsoft 365 business users will receive a free Copilot Chat sidebar in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. The feature provides AI‑driven assistance such as drafting documents, summarizing content and analyzing spreadsheets without requiring a separate Microsoft 365 Copilot license. While the free version offers core capabilities, the paid Copilot subscription continues to deliver advanced features like file upload, image generation and access to newer models such as GPT‑5. The rollout comes with no price changes for business customers, and Microsoft plans to bundle additional sales, service and finance Copilots into its subscription later this year. Read more →

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote

Microsoft adds free Copilot Chat to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote
Microsoft announced that all Microsoft 365 business users will receive a free Copilot Chat sidebar in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. The feature provides AI‑driven assistance such as drafting documents, summarizing content and analyzing spreadsheets without requiring a separate Microsoft 365 Copilot license. While the free version offers core capabilities, the paid Copilot subscription continues to deliver advanced features like file upload, image generation and access to newer models such as GPT‑5. The rollout comes with no price changes for business customers, and Microsoft plans to bundle additional sales, service and finance Copilots into its subscription later this year. Read more →

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty

Microsoft to Unbundle Office 365 from Teams, Cutting Prices to Avoid EU Antitrust Penalty
Microsoft has agreed to sell Office 365 suites without the Teams collaboration tool at a substantially lower price, ending a long‑standing European Union antitrust dispute. The settlement follows a complaint that Microsoft illegally tied Teams to its dominant Office suite, limiting competition. Under the deal, customers can switch to licenses that exclude Teams, move their data elsewhere, and benefit from price cuts that could halve the cost difference between bundled and unbundled suites. Competitors such as Slack, Google Meet and Zoom will gain greater interoperability, while Microsoft avoids a potential EU fine. Read more →

Microsoft Lens to be retired, users redirected to Copilot AI

Microsoft Lens to be retired, users redirected to Copilot AI
Microsoft announced that its Lens mobile scanning app will be discontinued, with the retirement beginning in September 2025 and full removal from app stores by November 2025. Existing users can scan until mid‑December 2025, after which the app will retain previous scans but stop new captures. The company is steering users toward the Microsoft 365 Copilot chat app, which lacks many of Lens’s native features such as direct saves to Office apps and accessibility tools. Launched in 2015 as Office Lens, the app amassed millions of downloads before its phase‑out. Read more →