Microsoft is integrating its consumer Copilot app and the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, and removing some AI features that have failed to deliver results. TechCrunch reported on Aug. 13 that the overhaul is meant to simplify the Copilot experience in line with a trend in which personal and workplace AI use overlaps.

The integration covers the general consumer Copilot app and the work-focused Microsoft 365 Copilot app. Microsoft is seen as having concluded that its strategy of operating separate apps increased complexity and put Copilot at a disadvantage in competing with ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

General users will lose access by Aug. 18 to group chat, Copilot’s AI-generated podcasts, experimental features in Copilot Labs and the deep research feature. Paid business users can use Researcher as a replacement for deep research, at least.

Microsoft is also ending the Copilot animated character, Miko. Some features may temporarily disappear during the transition, and files created in the separate Copilot app will be moved to OneDrive.

The overhaul also intersects with a broader consolidation trend in the AI app market. Anthropic integrated Claude Co-Work into chat, and OpenAI combined its agent feature Operator with ChatGPT. Google is also offering deep research and web browsing features together in the Gemini app.

Microsoft has also raised internally the need to reset Copilot’s direction. In an internal memo in July, Jacob Andreou (제이컵 안드레우), a Microsoft executive vice president who oversees Copilot, said the app must earn the "right to exist" in customers’ lives, and that to do so the company needs to remove features that do not work.