Microsoft restructures Copilot team and frees up AI chief to drive superintelligence

Microsoft announced Tuesday that it is reorganizing its Copilot team by merging commercial and consumer versions as the company rushes to improve its artificial intelligence assistant to drive better adoption.

Google’s strong reputation for Gemini and the launch of autonomous agents such as Anthropic’s viral Claude Cowork pose risks to both Microsoft’s AI business and broader software products as it races to drive adoption and usage of Copilot.

The reorganization will free up Mustafa Suleiman, Microsoft’s head of AI, and allow the industry veteran to focus more on building new AI models and the company’s superintelligence efforts.

Microsoft said Jacob Andreou, who has been corporate vice president of products and growth for Microsoft AI since last year, will lead the company’s Copilot efforts across consumer and commercial verticals.

Senior executives Ryan Roslansky, Perry Clark and Charles Lamanna will lead the M365 app and Copilot platform.

The reorganization “will allow us to focus fully on our superintelligence efforts and deliver a world-class model for Microsoft over the next five years,” Suleiman said.

Consumer CoPilot’s experiences, which span chat, news, search, shopping and operating system integration, have driven a nearly three-fold increase in daily app users year-over-year, CEO Satya Nadella said on Microsoft’s earnings call in January.

M365 Copilot, a $30-a-month AI assistant for business users, has reached 15 million annual users, Nadella added.

The Windows maker’s partnership with OpenAI powers most of the company’s AI products, including M365 Copilot, and was once considered its strongest competitive advantage, but the startup now accounts for about 45% of Microsoft’s remaining performance obligations, highlighting its heavy reliance on this relationship.

Last week, Microsoft announced Copilot Cowork, a tool based on Claude Cowork. The tool has been praised by users for its ability to handle complex tasks while limiting human oversight.

In November, Microsoft formed the MAI Superintelligence Team, following similar efforts by Meta Platforms, Safe Superintelligence Inc, and others to build AI systems that are far more capable than humans in certain areas, including medical diagnostics.