Microsoft Copilot Cowork can do your tasks automatically

Microsoft has introduced a new feature to Microsoft 365, Copilot Cowork. It is a new AI tool designed to carry out tasks autonomously in a Microsoft 365 environment. Copilot Cowork acts more like a digital coworker that can plan and execute tasks, helping teams complete their work more efficiently. This article covers important highlights of Microsoft Copilot Cowork.

Microsoft Copilot Cowork can do your tasks automatically

By introducing Copilot Cowork, Microsoft has expanded the boundaries of its Copilot AI assistant. Instead of only responding to prompts, Copilot Cowork can execute actions across different Microsoft 365 apps, helping users manage their workflows.

How it works

When you hand off a task to Copilot Cowork, instead of replying to your prompt, it converts it into a structured plan and starts working on it in the background. In the next step, it creates some checkpoints and pauses at that stage. Here, you can review the progress, approve the next step, modify the plan, or pause the task (if needed). Copilot Cowork also asks questions whenever required. Once you approve the plan, it takes the necessary actions.

Copilot Cowork can work independently and handle multiple tasks. However, nothing is applied automatically.

Some use cases of Copilot Cowork

Microsoft also explained some use cases of Copilot Cowork.

Copilot Cowork can help you organize your calendar. It reviews your schedule in Microsoft Outlook and suggests required changes, such as rescheduling and declining unnecessary meetings, which meetings have the highest priority, etc.

With Copilot Cowork, you can research a company faster than before. Instead of spending hours in research, you just have to provide a detailed prompt to Copilot Cowork. It collects information from various online sources and presents it in a structured, easy-to-understand format. Additionally, it generates an organized spreadsheet with labeled sections.

Microsoft stated that Copilot Cowork incorporates technology from Anthropic’s Claude Cowork.

Working closely with Anthropic, we have integrated the technology behind Claude Cowork into Microsoft 365 Copilot. It is this multi-model advantage that makes Copilot different.

To make task execution safer, Copilot Cowork runs in a sandbox cloud environment. The complete details are available on Microsoft’s official blog.