Microsoft drops Copilot+ PC brand to focus on enterprise AI tools

Microsoft has moved away from the Copilot+ PC brand. The major strategic shift alters how the company markets artificial intelligence in Windows and steps back from consumer-facing chatbot services to focus more heavily on enterprise tools.

Retirement of Copilot+ PC Certification and Consumer Chatbot

The Copilot+ PC brand, introduced in 2024 alongside Qualcomm, required a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of 45 TOPS. However, issues such as the security risks surrounding the Recall feature marred the rollout, and Microsoft has now completely removed the certification. New Surface devices no longer carry the branding, and manufacturers are also dropping the terminology. Brett Ostrum, vice president at Microsoft, confirmed that while devices meet hardware requirements, the company is stepping away from the marketing label. Alongside this, Microsoft is gradually phasing out the general consumer Copilot chatbot, acknowledging its struggles against competitors like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok. Features such as Deep Research and podcast generation have already been removed from the chatbot. Server The Verge reminds that Copilot failed to succeed among ordinary people against competitors like ChatGPT and Claude, though business customers are slowly turning toward it.

A New Operating System for Work and Agentic AI

In place of the older consumer tools, Microsoft has redesigned its Copilot application around three main tabs: Home, Code, and Autopilot. Jared Spataro, marketing director for AI at Work, stated that Copilot aims to define work in the AI era much like Office did for the PC era, while CEO Satya Nadella described the effort as building a new operating system for work. The Home tab houses a quick-answer Chat and Cowork, an agent that handles multi-step tasks. The Code tab allows users to create applications or dashboards using natural language based on GitHub Copilot technology, and Autopilot runs autonomously in the cloud within Microsoft 365 environments. Fixed monthly subscriptions cover Copilot Chat and Office assistants in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, alongside a model selection and an Auto mode that chooses a model for each query based on accuracy, speed, and price. Advanced agentic functions like Cowork, Code, and Autopilot, together with the most powerful models such as GPT-6 Astra from OpenAI and Fable from Anthropic, are billed via Copilot Credits based on usage, which is charged in addition to the subscription. Corporate administrators receive FinOps for AI tools to monitor and limit spending on agentic work.

Unresolved Questions

While Microsoft has outlined its pivot toward enterprise-focused agentic tools and credits-based billing, several details remain unconfirmed. The exact pricing for Copilot Credits has not been disclosed by Microsoft, and the company has not specified how long the standalone consumer chatbot will continue to operate as it is phased out. Microsoft is expected to discuss further details at its Ignite conference running from November 17 to 20 in San Francisco and online.