Microsoft’s Copilot is evolving fast—not just in what it can do, but who can use it. The company has started removing long-standing barriers to some of its most advanced AI features, while simultaneously introducing a set of new capabilities designed to personalize the user experience and expand what AI can handle on a user’s behalf.
These changes arrive as part of a broader rethinking of how Copilot fits into Microsoft’s software lineup. It’s no longer just a sidebar assistant or a rebranded chatbot. It’s increasingly being positioned as a customizable, intelligent companion that adapts to your digital life and acts within it.
Memory, Actions, and More: Copilot Gets Smarter and More Proactive
One of the standout additions is Copilot memory—a new capability that allows the assistant to remember your preferences, interests, and other useful context. Think of it as giving your AI a longer attention span.
Whether it’s your favorite types of movies, key project deadlines, or even recurring events, memory allows Copilot to make suggestions that are more relevant and timely. Users can opt in, opt out, or wipe the memory entirely through a dedicated privacy dashboard.
Also new is the debut of Copilot Actions, which enables Copilot to go beyond suggestion and take direct steps on your behalf. By partnering with platforms like OpenTable, Kayak, and Expedia, Microsoft now lets users book a table, plan travel, or send a gift using simple prompts. Y
You don’t need to fill out a form or navigate multiple tabs—Copilot does it through a conversation. This pushes Microsoft’s AI further into agent territory, letting it complete multi-step web tasks in a way that resembles human delegation.
Microsoft has also introduced Deep Research, a new feature similar to offerings from ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity AI, designed to streamline complex, multi-step research tasks. Deep Research enables Copilot to efficiently locate, analyze, and synthesize information from various online sources, documents, and images, significantly reducing the time required for comprehensive research. It allows users to input a topic or question, and Copilot will generate a detailed, multi-page report with relevant insights and data.
Another expansion comes in the form of Copilot Vision, now available on mobile and Windows after a limited web-only release. Using your camera or screen, Vision can analyze images and interfaces in real time—whether that means identifying a houseplant or helping with layout tweaks in a design project.
It’s one of Microsoft’s more visually ambitious features and suggests a future where your AI can “see” the world alongside you, not just read your prompts. The rollout began with Windows Insiders, and broader availability is expected soon.
Copilot Search is another enhancement using Microsoft’s Bing search engine that integrates traditional search methods with generative AI capabilities. The feature aims to provide users with more comprehensive and contextually relevant search results by analyzing information from multiple websites and presenting detailed summaries. Copilot Search is designed to handle complex and conversational queries, offering clear answers and organized information layouts to facilitate user discovery.
Microsoft Copilot’s new Pages feature offers a dynamic, persistent canvas within Copilot Chat, enabling users to transform AI-generated responses into editable, shareable pages. The tool enhances collaboration by allowing multiple users to work together in real-time, refining content and organizing information efficiently. Accessible to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers, Copilot Pages integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft applications, supporting a variety of content creation and organizational tasks.
Copilot Podcasts is another new feature enables which users to transform their favorite topics into engaging, AI-generated audio content. By providing Copilot with specific subjects or content, users can receive personalized podcast-style summaries and analyses, facilitating an interactive and convenient learning experience.
Microsoft’s new Copilot Shopping feature integrates AI into the online shopping experience by helping users find and compare products across various retailers. It works by analyzing user preferences and providing tailored suggestions, while also tracking price changes and notifying users of relevant sales or discounts. This feature allows users to complete purchases directly through the app, streamlining the shopping process.
Microsoft Unlocks Premium Features, No Subscription Required
At the same time as these feature rollouts, Microsoft has broadened free access to previously paid features. Tools that were previously limited to Copilot Pro subscribers are now available to everyone—at no cost.
Chief among them is Think Deeper, a feature designed for structured, multi-step reasoning. In early 2025, this tool became available to all users, starting with OpenAI’s o1 model. By March, Microsoft upgraded the experience to run on the more capable o3-mini-high model—the same architecture used in OpenAI’s paid offerings.
The upgrade brought serious improvements in reasoning and analysis, and Microsoft made it available without any subscription requirement. It’s a direct challenge to the tiered model used by OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus and similar services.
In February, Microsoft also removed usage limits on Copilot’s voice features, opening up real-time conversation to all users. Previously throttled in both duration and responsiveness unless you paid for Pro, voice is now part of the standard Copilot experience, though Microsoft still offers faster performance and early access to new tools for paying users.