Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on AI: 'Trust is going to be the biggest issue for us'

Microsoft unveiled a revamped version of its Copilot software on Friday, combining chat, coding, and agentic capabilities into a single package it calls Autopilot, with CEO Satya Nadella telling Yahoo Finance's Deirdre Bosa that "trust is going to be the biggest issue for us." The new Copilot offers standard per-user plans plus a pay-as-you-go option for long-tail, multi-step agentic work, and automatically routes prompts to the best available model from OpenAI or Anthropic, with manual model selection also available. Microsoft said the per-seat option carries token limits most users will never hit, while usage-based billing covers heavier needs.

Microsoft MSFT https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MSFT/ on Friday unveiled a r evamped version of its Copilot software https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-revamps-copilot-with-code-generation-agentic-ai-tools-2026-09-25/ , combining its chat, coding, and agentic capabilities into a single package, which it calls Autopilot. The platform is designed to serve as a kind of one-stop shop for your work needs, such as preparing a pitch document or putting together a spreadsheet and then have AI reason over the data to provide users with insights they may not see. But to ensure it wins over customers, CEO Satya Nadella says, Microsoft will need to win users' trust. "Trust is going to be the biggest issue for us," Nadella told Deirdre Bosa. "Can I really trust AI with all of my credentials when it does autonomous activity? How do I make sure that this is something that I can feel that I'm in control of? And in the enterprise, this is everything," he said. The new Copilot also has two different billing options: standard per-user plans for general AI work and a pay-as-you-go offering for performing long-tail, multi-step agentic work. Nadella says the dual offerings will prove to be especially beneficial to users as AI model makers and providers slowly reduce customer subsidies. "The way I think about our subscriptions is it's ultimately going to deliver more value every day of the week as models improve. And then on top of that, we have usage-based functionality that any user at any time can use with no limits," the CEO explained. "And so that combination gives us, I think, the right business model to be able to both deliver broad access, deliver the return on investment that's expected, and most importantly, continuously be aligned with where customers will see value." Microsoft says Copilot will automatically route user prompts to the best available model from OpenAI OPAI.PVT https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/OPAI.PVT/ and Anthropic ANTH.PVT https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ANTH.PVT/ , though you'll also be able to manually choose models. The company says it will add additional options from other model makers in the future. The Windows maker says that the per-seat option will have token limits that most people will never hit. Those that need further capabilities, however, can opt for usage-based billing. Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley . Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance