Microsoft is bundling its AI-powered Office features into Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions, but it’s also raising prices as a result. Previously, Microsoft 365 subscribers had to pay an extra $20 per month to get Copilot inside Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as part of a Copilot Pro subscription, but Microsoft is now adding these AI features to Microsoft 365 apps for an extra $3 per month. Existing subscribers can opt out of the AI features and not suffer the price increase, though.
Microsoft has been testing adding AI-powered Office apps, the most important feature of Copilot Pro, into the Microsoft 365 subscriptions in recent months. What was previously only available in Australia, New Zealand, and a number of countries across Asia is now expanding to most markets worldwide.
While it feels like Microsoft is admitting that people aren’t willing to pay an extra $20 a month for AI-powered Office features, Microsoft argues it has always wanted to bring AI features to more users.
Tom Warren
People aren’t loving our new fancy gizmo that we pumped billions in? Wait, I have the perfect solution: let’s force it on them! A perfect illustration of the ‘AI is overhyped’ argument.
Coincidently, Google is raising the price of its Workspace suite this month with the same goal of bundling the AI features in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Meet. This seems like an easy target for antitrust investigation and enforcement as well – not that we are likely to see much of that in the US during the second Trump term…
Fortunately, in Microsoft’s case existing subscribers can at least switch to a ‘Classic’ plan without Copilot at the same price point. I have already done just that this past weekend because the price increase is quite hefty, and I don’t see myself using Copilot to a degree that paying extra would make sense. There’s a slight threat implied that these legacy plans will not get any major new features, but at this point I can happily wait and see what these future features might be.
speaking of switching plans to save money, the option to change to yearly billing is now live for my Adobe Photography Plan, something that I also plan to go through with soon.
Before my current Microsoft 365 plan runs out later this year, I still have access to the Copilot features in Office apps, and from the brief time I looked at them I’m not particularly impressed. In Word they’re very intrusive; there’s a floating Copilot button on the top left of new blank documents, and the Paste Options floating menu was completely taken over by a ‘Paste with Copilot’ banner. I have no idea what it’s supposed to do, because I immediately disabled Copilot – you can easily do that under File > Options > Copilot. OneNote has got a big Copilot button placed in the Ribbon – which you can also hide under ‘More commands’.
The Excel integration looks more practical, with a list of suggestions for common tasks that can be performed via Copilot prompts, but for me as an advanced user these all looked like stuff I already know how to do myself. They may ease some users into more advanced formulas and features, but the danger is that they will not understand or learn how to do it themselves, and so will become dependent on Copilot to perform certain tasks – and easily replaceable from the perspective of the company employing them.
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