{"slug": "microsoft-kills-off-unsuccessful-ai-features-while-merging-its-separate-copilot", "title": "Microsoft kills off unsuccessful AI features while merging its separate Copilot apps", "summary": "Microsoft is merging its consumer-facing Copilot app with the business-oriented Microsoft 365 Copilot app and retiring unsuccessful AI features, including Group Chats, AI-generated podcasts, Copilot Labs, Deep Research, and the animated character Mico, by August 18, 2026. The consolidation follows an internal memo from Microsoft EVP Jacob Andreou stating the app needed to earn \"the right to exist\" in customers' lives, as the company aims to compete with ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.", "body_md": "Two years ago, [Microsoft described AI](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/FY-2024/earnings-fy-2024-q3) as a “generational shift” in technology that it wanted to lead. Today, the company is merging its Copilot-branded consumer and business apps, and ditching a number of unsuccessful AI features.\n\nAs initially reported by [GeekWire](https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-starts-merging-its-copilot-consumer-and-business-apps-in-advance-of-super-app-rollout/) and detailed in [Microsoft’s support documentation](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/learning/changes-microsoft-copilot-app), the tech giant will combine the functionality of its consumer-facing Copilot app and the more business-oriented Microsoft 365 Copilot app.\n\nThe move is both an acknowledgement that personal and professional uses of AI often overlap, and that Microsoft’s prior strategy was too complicated to make Copilot a viable competitor to the likes of ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.\n\nIt also follows a broader consolidation in the AI app space that has seen Claude [merging](https://claude.com/blog/cowork-web-mobil) Cowork into Chat; OpenAI merging its agentic feature [Operator into ChatGPT](https://openai.com/index/introducing-operator/); and Google adding [specialized capabilities](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gemini/gemini-app-updates-io-2025/) to its Gemini app, like the combination of deep research and web browsing.\n\nAccording to Microsoft, consumers will lose access to Group Chats, AI-generated podcasts in Copilot, Copilot Labs experimental features, and Deep Research, by August 18, 2026. For paying professional users, [Researcher](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/Microsoft-365-Copilot/get-started-with-researcher-in-microsoft-365-copilot) will offer a replacement for the latter, at least.\n\nThe company will also [ditch](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/frequently-asked-questions-about-retired-copilot-features) its [goofy animated character for Copilot, named Mico](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDk96R_68aA), a floating blob that felt like [an AI-ified version of Clippy](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/23/microsofts-mico-is-a-clippy-for-the-ai-era/). Other features may temporarily disappear during the transition, Microsoft warns, and files generated by the standalone Copilot app will be migrated to OneDrive.\n\nWhile the company says the goal is to make Copilot a “simpler, more cohesive experience,” it’s also an admission that Copilot has lost its way. In July, [The Information](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/microsoft-memo-details-ai-app-overhaul-earn-right-exist) reported that Microsoft EVP Jacob Andreou, who oversees Copilot, said in an internal memo that the app needed to earn “the right to exist” in its customers’ lives, which required moving on from features that didn’t work.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-kills-off-unsuccessful-ai-features-while-merging-its-separate-copilot", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/13/microsoft-kills-off-unsuccessful-ai-features-while-merging-its-separate-copilot-apps/", "published_at": "2026-08-13 15:30:52+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-13 15:37:43.984147+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Microsoft", "Microsoft 365 Copilot", "Copilot", "Jacob Andreou", "GeekWire", "The Information", "OpenAI", "Google"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-kills-off-unsuccessful-ai-features-while-merging-its-separate-copilot", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-kills-off-unsuccessful-ai-features-while-merging-its-separate-copilot.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-kills-off-unsuccessful-ai-features-while-merging-its-separate-copilot.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-kills-off-unsuccessful-ai-features-while-merging-its-separate-copilot.jsonld"}}