Microsoft kills Copilot features and merges its consumer and business apps after exec said the product needed to earn "the right to exist"
Published · updated · curated by AI Is Going Just Great
Source: techcrunch.com ↗
The app needed to earn "the right to exist" in its customers' lives, which required moving on from features that didn't work.
Microsoft is merging its consumer Copilot app and Microsoft 365 Copilot into a single product, and cutting several features in the process. Gone by August 18: Group Chats, AI-generated podcasts, Copilot Labs, and Deep Research for free-tier users. Also gone is Mico, the animated floating blob Microsoft had introduced as Copilot's mascot before apparently reconsidering that decision.
The consolidation follows an internal memo from Microsoft EVP Jacob Andreou, who oversees Copilot, telling staff the app needed to earn "the right to exist" in customers' lives. Two years after Microsoft declared AI a "generational shift" it intended to lead, it is now running the same playbook as its rivals: collapsing overlapping apps into one and quietly retiring the features that didn't land.