copilot – Tech News

GitHub will start charging Copilot users based on their actual AI usage

GitHub has announced that it will be shifting to a usage-based billing model for its GitHub Copilot AI service starting on June 1. The move is pitched as a way to “better align pricing with actual usage” and a necessary step to keep Copilot financially sustainable amid surging demand for limited AI computing resources. These kinds of pricing moves could become more common as major AI companies try to convert growing revenue and high demand for their services into the kinds of profits that have so far been illusory. Amid an ongoing shortage of computing resources to meet that demand, the days of subsidized, subscription-based usage discounts for the most voracious users of AI may be coming to an end.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/04/github-will-start-charging-copilot-users-based-on-their-actual-ai-usage/

Microsoft Scales Back AI Goals Because Almost Nobody Is Using Copilot

Microsoft has cut its sales targets for its agentic AI software after struggling to find buyers interested in using it. In some cases, targets have been slashed by up to 50%, suggesting Microsoft overestimated the potential of its new AI tools. Indeed, compared with ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, Copilot is falling behind, raising concerns about Microsoft's substantial AI investment. "The Information’s story inaccurately combines the concepts of growth and sales quotas," Microsoft said in a very defensive statement (via Futurism), adding that "aggregate sales quotas for AI products have not been lowered."
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/microsoft-scales-back-ai-goals-because-almost-nobody-is-using-copilot

Meet Mico, Microsoft’s AI version of Clippy

It’s been nearly 30 years since Microsoft’s Office assistant, Clippy, first graced our screens as an annoying paperclip. Now Microsoft is ready to try again with Mico, a new character for Copilot’s voice mode. “Clippy walked so that we could run,” jokes Jacob Andreou, corporate VP of product and growth at Microsoft AI, in an interview with The Verge. Microsoft has been testing Mico (rhymes with “pico”) for a few months now, as a virtual character that responds with real-time expressions when you talk to it. Mico is now being turned on by default in Copilot’s voice mode, where you’ll also have the option to turn the bouncing orb off.
https://www.theverge.com/news/804106/microsoft-mico-copilot-ai-assistant-clippy

Following mass layoffs, Xbox exec recommends AI to cope

The thousands of recently terminated Microsoft employees, navigating one of the company's largest layoffs in years amid a period of industry upheaval, already have a tool to cope with the emotional burden, according to one Xbox exec: Microsoft Copilot.
https://mashable.com/article/microsoft-xbox-recommend-ai-for-layoff-aftermath

Microsoft’s new Copilot will change Office documents forever

Microsoft has a flashy marketing video that shows off Copilot’s potential, but seeing Friedman demonstrate this in real time across Office apps and in Teams left me convinced it will forever change how we interact with software, create documents, and ultimately, how we work.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/17/23644501/microsoft-copilot-ai-office-documents-microsoft-365-report