Microsoft spent years selling Copilot as one more seat next to Office. With the new Copilot app announced on September 25, that seat now covers only part of the story. Chat and Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams stay on the per-user license, while the heavier agent work (Cowork, Code, and Autopilot) runs on usage-based billing on top of it. Microsoft's own launch post from Jared Spataro lays out that split directly.
Autopilot is the one that makes this feel different. It used to be called Scout, and Microsoft pitches it as a digital teammate with its own identity, memory, and cloud computer that keeps working while you sleep. You can @mention it in Teams or Outlook like a colleague, and it follows up on threads and runs recurring work without waiting for a prompt. That is useful, but it also means an agent is clocking hours on your company's meter. Microsoft says Autopilot expands to private preview at the end of September, and admins get spending controls through Agent 365 so usage doesn't quietly run away.
We've already done the homework if you want the details before you vote. Our seat-plus-usage buyer guide walks through who should turn agents on and who should stay on the seat alone, and our Home vs Code vs Autopilot field guide maps which mode fits which job on a normal workday.
So this week's question is simple: when your org can switch on an AI coworker that bills by the task, what do you actually do?
[poll id="3"]Pick the answer that matches your real plan, not the one that sounds bravest in a meeting. If none of them fit, tell us why in the comments. Vote now and check back next Friday, when we'll share the results alongside the next Weekly Poll.