On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled its latest offering, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, designed to cater to enterprises seeking enhanced access to artificial intelligence (AI) resources. The company, based in Redmond, has been actively marketing its Copilot subscription services to both businesses and individual users, emphasizing its potential benefits.
Introduction of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
The new subscription plan was detailed by the tech leader, making it accessible for enterprises looking for AI solutions. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat serves as a streamlined version of the existing Copilot plan, featuring a flexible billing structure while offering a reduced set of AI functionalities. Monthly fees for the standard Copilot service are set at $30 (approximately Rs. 2,600) per user.
This new subscription tier is seen as a calculated attempt to attract major corporations that remain hesitant about implementing AI technologies, especially when faced with the prospect of substantial costs for a large workforce. The pay-as-you-go model allows these organizations to evaluate the service’s suitability without committing to extensive upfront expenses. Furthermore, it enables businesses to track their usage and deploy the AI tool strategically for pertinent tasks.
Comparison of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriptions
Photo Credit: Microsoft
Additionally, Microsoft is incorporating complimentary access to the Copilot Chat feature within this subscription package. It’s important to note, however, that this AI-powered chatbot is limited to online data, which means it can only produce responses that are corroborated by web sources and does not have the capability to generate output based on Microsoft Graph or third-party information through Graph connectors.
The introduction of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat marks the company’s second subscription plan providing access to AI-powered agents. While the standard 365 Copilot also features a metered payment option for autonomous tasks, the Copilot Chat subscription charges for all actions relying on data from work sources.
In an interview with Technology News, Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s CMO of AI at Work, elaborated on the costs associated with utilizing AI agents for businesses.
Microsoft quantifies AI agent usage through “messages,” which refer to the responses generated by the agent. However, specifics regarding whether response length or formatting influences pricing remain unclear. According to Spataro, each message is valued at one cent (about Rs. 0.86).
Using the AI chat service for responses sourced from the web incurs no message cost, while standard replies equate to one message. If the Copilot generates a response, it will charge businesses for two messages. Achieving a response informed by Microsoft Graph data will incur a charge of 30 messages, and autonomous actions executed by the agent are billed at 25 messages for each task performed.
For illustration, a business utilizing Copilot Chat to produce 5,000 work-related responses, 3,000 messages wherein the AI references company protocols for answers, and completes 4,000 automation tasks in one month, would face a total charge of $2,000 (approximately Rs. 1,72,950). This scenario represents a moderate level of usage for an average medium-sized enterprise, typically employing between 100 and 1,000 staff members.
