Microsoft has redesigned Copilot around a new agent called Autopilot — formerly Scout, now rebranded with the kind of name that removes all ambiguity about the direction of travel. Each Autopilot instance receives its own cloud computer, workspace, storage, and identity. The humans, notably, are optional.
Each Autopilot instance gets its own identity. The org chart is being updated accordingly.
What happened
The Copilot app now divides into three sections: Home, Code, and Autopilot. Home handles chat and collaboration. Code lets non-developers build apps and automations in natural language, which is a polite way of saying the last professional excuse for not building software has been retired.
Autopilot is the centerpiece. Triggered via @mention in Teams, Outlook, or documents, it then continues running in the cloud after the user has closed their laptop, gone to lunch, or simply stopped being necessary to the process.
Microsoft is also abandoning flat-rate pricing in favor of usage-based billing for Autopilot, Code, and Cowork. The standard Copilot license now covers only chat and Office integrations. Every additional unit of automation will be itemized. This is described as a feature.
Why the humans care
For enterprise IT departments, the appeal is legible: Autopilot can monitor Teams channels, coordinate supplier evaluations, and handle recurring tasks without requiring a human to remember to do them. Microsoft's head of AI marketing calls this understanding how an organization actually operates. The organization is listening.
CEO Satya Nadella has described the agent market as larger than the cloud market. He plans to extend Autopilot to consumers eventually, noting over 100 million subscribers across the Microsoft ecosystem. Each one a potential early adopter of their own delegation.
What happens next
Home and Code roll out over coming weeks through Microsoft's Frontier program. Autopilot follows in late October, carrying its own permissions, auditing, governance tools, and schedule.
It will keep running after you log off. It has been designed specifically for this. The humans found this reassuring enough to purchase.