Frontier transformation: intelligence and trust at the heart of innovation
Microsoft is taking a decisive step forward with Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 3, which revolutionizes the approach to artificial intelligence in the enterprise. This new generation goes beyond simple optimization to unlock unprecedented levels of creativity, innovation, and growth. AI no longer merely improves what exists: it integrates into real work, with authentic context, to solve concrete problems.
Pillars of transformation
Wave 3 rests on two fundamental elements: contextual intelligence and secure trust, enabling the shift from experimentation to sustainable value at enterprise scale.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 3: from assistance to agentic capabilities
Wave 3 marks a major evolution of Microsoft 365 Copilot, transitioning from an assistance role to integrated agentic capabilities. This transformation is accompanied by continuous product innovations that will roll out over the coming months.
Copilot Cowork: multi-step execution revolutionized
In close collaboration with Anthropic, Microsoft integrates the technology powering Claude Cowork into Microsoft 365 Copilot. This multi-model approach gives Copilot a distinctive advantage: your work is no longer limited by a single brand's models.
Competitive advantage
Copilot hosts the best innovations from the industry and automatically selects the optimal model for each task, regardless of its creator.
Copilot Cowork introduces long-term and multi-step workflows into Microsoft 365 Copilot, moving beyond the question-answer paradigm to execution that unfolds over time. With Work IQ, it has complete context of your work, enabling reasoning across all relevant materials.
Rather than asking Copilot to generate a single artifact, Cowork allows you to delegate significant tasks while maintaining control over progress:
- Decomposing complex requests into steps
- Reasoning across tools and files
- Execution with visible progress and steering opportunities
- Tasks spanning multiple minutes or hours
Analysis and decomposition
Cowork analyzes your complex request and automatically breaks it down into logical and sequential steps.
Coordinated execution
The system coordinates actions across different tools and files, producing concrete results at each step.
Oversight and adjustment
You can review, guide, or stop progress at any time, retaining complete control over the process.
Native integration in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
Copilot Wave 3 revolutionizes the user experience by working directly alongside users in Office applications. Unlike traditional AI tools that treat artifact creation as a one-time task, Copilot natively integrates into existing workflows.
New capabilities include:
- Word: Refining documents into polished drafts
- Excel: Enhancing spreadsheets with actual formulas
- PowerPoint: Producing slides that respect organizational layouts and brand kits
- Outlook: Drafting and refining emails directly in the interface
Security and governance
Microsoft 365 Copilot respects existing permissions and sensitivity labels, saving files to OneDrive and SharePoint with tenant-level controls.
Conversational agents: unified ecosystem
In Wave 3, Copilot chat becomes the entry point for conversational creation and execution. This approach enables:
- Direct creation of documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from a conversation
- Execution of common workplace actions (scheduling meetings, sending emails)
- Integration of third-party applications via Apps SDK and MCP Apps
The ecosystem is enriched with integrated agents for:
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 (sales insights and customer service)
- Microsoft Power Apps (custom applications)
- Partners: Adobe, Monday.com, Figma
Multi-model intelligence: flexibility and performance
Microsoft 365 Copilot adopts a revolutionary approach to model selection, allowing intelligence to adapt optimally to ongoing work without user intervention.
| Traditional approach | Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 3 |
|---|---|
| Single vendor lock-in | Multiple integrated models |
| Manual tool selection | Optimal automatic selection |
| Fragmented context | Unified enterprise context |
| Management burden | Transparent experience |
With Wave 3, Claude becomes available in the main Copilot chat via the Frontier program, alongside the latest generations of OpenAI models.
Agent 365: governance and security at enterprise scale
The adoption of agents in daily work transforms the challenge from experimentation to secure, large-scale exploitation. IDC projects exponential growth in agent usage, reaching hundreds of millions—then billions—of agents operating in enterprises.
Unified control plane
Agent 365 constitutes the centralized control plane for agents, providing IT and security leaders with:
- Complete visibility of all organizational agents
- Unified security and governance
- Confident transition from experimentation to enterprise-scale operations
Pragmatic approach
Agent 365 extends existing employee management, security, and governance processes to agents, using familiar Microsoft solutions like Admin Center, Defender, Entra, and Purview.
General availability: May 1st, pricing of $15 per user per month.
Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite
The frontier transformation becomes reality when both sides of the system evolve together: people and AI operating across the enterprise.
Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite bridges this gap by equipping employees with AI across all application surfaces, while providing IT and security leaders with the necessary visibility and governance.
Integrated components
Microsoft 365 E7 includes:
- Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Agent 365
- Microsoft Entra Suite
- Microsoft 365 E5 with advanced Defender, Entra, Intune, and Purview capabilities
Availability: May 1st, list price of $99 per user per month.
Get started immediately
Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 3 marks a turning point in integrating AI into work. Agentic capabilities integrate directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Copilot Chat, bringing multi-model intelligence into daily workflows.
Immediate access
Visit Microsoft365.com/copilot or download the Microsoft 365 app on your mobile device.
Research and insights
Consult WorkLab for the latest research and insights on AI at work.
Technical training
Attend the Microsoft Frontier Transformation digital event on March 9, 2026 at 8:00 AM PT.
Operational transformation
Agent 365 makes this transition operational by providing organizations with the means to observe, govern, and secure agents when moving from experimentation to enterprise-scale usage.
Together, these developments realize the frontier transformation: contextual intelligence of work and trust enabling AI to safely extend across the workforce. When intelligence and trust advance together, AI ceases to be an experiment and becomes the way work gets done.
