Video summary

Copilot Cowork explained - Mondays at Microsoft (Episode 78)

Main summary

Key takeaways

Technology

Copilot “Co-work” (General Availability + Billing)

  • GA milestone: Copilot Co-work moved from the Frontier program to General Availability on June 16.
  • What it is for: AI used for long-running, multi-step workflows that produce “beautiful artifacts” (not just single answers).
  • Integrations: Supports integrated plugins and is positioned as working across multiple types of intelligence.
  • Security/governance: Uses the same Copilot security and governance controls customers have already configured.

Licensing requirements

  • Users must have a Microsoft 365 Copilot user subscription license to use Copilot Co-work.
  • Co-work uses a usage-based subscription/billing model (analogous to an Azure credits-style approach).

Billing timeline + rollout guidance

  • Billing begins July 1.
  • There may be a brief service interruption during the conversion window from Frontier to GA.
  • Microsoft recommends a “pause to plan” period to decide how to deploy the new capability.

Resources mentioned

  • Additional guidance and a new FAQ on the Copilot Co-work adoption page
  • A video by Jared Spitaro explaining billing details
  • An original blog/demo by Charles Aman showing how it works

Community follow-up

  • Planned live AMA on July 21 (9:00 a.m.) to dive deeper into control and billing tools.

Copilot in Excel (Finance evaluation + capabilities availability)

Testing/evaluation approach

  • New Excel Copilot capabilities were evaluated using finance task benchmarks reflecting real finance team complexity, emphasizing:
    • multi-step workflows
    • trusted/verifiable results

Partner involved

  • Microsoft partnered with the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI), using real-world finance modeling cases as an evaluation library.

Finance-focused capabilities called out

  • Person personalization
  • Workbook rules
  • Pre-built-in skills
  • Federated Copilot connectors
  • Planning with Copilot
  • Copilot attribution

Availability

  • Generally available for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers across Excel for web and Windows/Mac
  • Custom skills: available via Insiders for Windows and Mac; rolling GA thereafter
  • Partner-built skills: expected in Q3 2026

Microsoft Planner Agent (AI work management inside Copilot)

Product focus

  • Planner Agent brings intelligent work management into Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling users to manage tasks in a single surface rather than switching between files, Teams, and email.

Goal/vision

  • Help users transition from planning to execution while keeping plans trustworthy as priorities shift.

Demo highlights (feature behavior)

  • Gathers information across multiple sources to determine what’s due/urgent/needs attention first
  • Interactive chat + live UI actions inside the conversation:
    • mark tasks complete
    • update due dates
    • refine task details
    • change progress without breaking workflow
  • Turns follow-ups into tasks, including:
    • identifying next steps
    • drafting tasks
    • expanding for details
    • adding/removing context
  • Updates plans at scale when schedules shift:
    • finds tasks across shared plans
    • prepares changes
    • user confirms
  • Manager-style visibility across shared plans:
    • highlights which shared plans need attention
    • mentions an upcoming “portfolio”
  • Generates a new plan from scratch based on a custom request (referencing a document), drafting a structured plan (e.g., goals, buckets, notes) and saving it to Planner

Release status + access path

  • Mentioned as available now in Microsoft 365 Copilot after passing Frontier, now in General Availability
  • Access route: admin enables agent; users go to “all agents in Copilot” to find Planner Agent

Human-in-the-loop caveat

These investments do not replace project managers.

Licensing detail mentioned

  • Planner has basic vs premium license split today.
  • Planner is moving to a holistic platform change to reduce user confusion.
  • Planner Agent is coming to basic plans first.

Q&A example: Supervisor overview / manager portfolio

  • A viewer asked about a supervisor overview of staff current tasks.
  • Response:
    • Current Planner Agent supports a holistic view across plans the user has access to, with a status report concept
    • “Portfolio” is expected soon for cross-plan visibility across people and plans
    • Planner Agent can produce a table view of due/overdue items (assigned to the user and others depending on access), prioritized, and enable follow-ups via Teams
  • Governance/permissions: Planner Agent respects permissions—it won’t show tasks from plans the user can’t access.

Cybersecurity segment (AI impact + Microsoft actions)

Theme

  • AI is accelerating cyber attacks (not just used for defense).

Microsoft approach

  • Target the cybercrime “supply chain”—not only individual services.

Example operation described

  • Coordinated action against two widely used cybercrime tools, including discussion of analysis and shared infrastructure.

Scale claim mentioned

  • In the first two weeks of May, the tools were linked to 140,000+ infected computers globally.

Collaboration

  • Mentions partnerships with organizations including Europol and industry partners.

Additional note

  • Discusses Microsoft involvement with partner ecosystems (e.g., Interpol/Europol/organizations for startups) related to the broader AI landscape.

Microsoft 365 Backup (business continuity guidance)

Resource mentioned

  • “10 things to know” blog (used as setup guidance)

What it does

  • Helps recover Exchange Online, SharePoint, and OneDrive data quickly.

Purpose

  • Provides a native safety net for business continuity, especially for industries heavily targeted by cybercriminals.

Events/community updates + show format change

  • Community resources: points viewers to communitydays.org for events.
  • Show schedule change: “Mondays at Microsoft” will switch to an every Monday morning weekly format starting July 13, with more guests and more customer/product perspectives.

Main speakers / sources

  • Caruana (Caruana Gatino) — Director, Customer Advocacy Group (AI and collaboration) (host)
  • Heather Cook — Principal Community Evangelist for Microsoft 365 (co-host)
  • Mars Goo — Product Manager, Microsoft Planner team (Planner Agent)
  • Jared Spitaro — referenced for a Co-work billing explanation video
  • Charles Aman — referenced for a Copilot Co-work demo/blog
  • Brian Jones — referenced for the Excel finance evaluation blog (VP of Excel)
  • Adidi — referenced for the “10 things to know” Microsoft 365 Backup blog

Original video