Microsoft Merges Copilot Apps and Kills Off Unsuccessful AI Features
Microsoft is merging its consumer-facing Copilot app with its business-oriented Microsoft 365 Copilot app, as the company works to simplify an AI strategy that has grown too complicated to compete with rivals like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. The consolidation, first reported by GeekWire and detailed in Microsoft's support documentation, acknowledges that personal and professional uses of AI often overlap, and that maintaining separate apps no longer makes sense.
As part of the transition, consumers lose access to several unsuccessful features by August 18, 2026, including Group Chats, AI-generated podcasts, Copilot Labs experimental features, and Deep Research. Paying professional users will get a replacement for Deep Research through the Researcher feature. Microsoft is also retiring Mico, the floating animated character that many compare to an AI version of Clippy. Some features may temporarily disappear during the transition, and files from the stand-alone Copilot app will move to OneDrive.
The shakeup follows a broader consolidation trend across the AI app space, with Claude merging its Cowork feature into Chat, OpenAI folding its Operator agent into ChatGPT, and Google adding specialized capabilities to Gemini. In July, The Information reported that Microsoft EVP Jacob Andreou, who oversees Copilot, tells staff in an internal memo that the app must earn the right to exist in customers' lives, requiring the company to move on from features that don't work.