Microsoft taps Anthropic for Copilot Cowork in push for AI agents

By Aditya Soni

March 9 (Reuters) - Microsoft is adding Anthropic's AI technology to its Copilot service to tap growing demand for autonomous agents, weeks ‌after the startup's new tools sparked a selloff in software stocks.

The ‌company on Monday unveiled Copilot Cowork, a tool based on Anthropic's viral Claude Cowork offering, which ​has captivated Silicon Valley with its ability to handle complex tasks such as creating apps, building spreadsheets and organizing large volumes of data with limited human oversight.

Microsoft is betting that its long-standing ties with enterprise customers and its focus on security ‌and data controls will help ⁠it win business from companies interested in AI agents but wary of deploying them without safeguards.

"We work only in a cloud ⁠environment and we work only on behalf of the user. So you know exactly what information it (Copilot Cowork) has access to," Jared Spataro, who leads Microsoft's AI-at-Work efforts, ​told ​Reuters.

Cloud Cowork only works locally on the ​device and most companies feel "very uncomfortable" ‌with that, he said. "We're the opposite."

The launch comes weeks after Anthropic introduced new tools for Claude that intensified investor concerns about the threat AI agents could pose to traditional software companies, triggering to a selloff in the sector. Microsoft's own shares fell nearly 9% in February.

Copilot Cowork tool is currently in testing and ‌will be available to early-access users later ​this month, Microsoft said.

The company did not disclose ​pricing, but said some usage ​would be included in its $30-per-user, per-month M365 Copilot offering for ‌enterprises, with additional usage available for purchase.

Microsoft also ​said it is ​making Anthropic's latest Claude Sonnet models available to M365 Copilot users. The service had previously relied only on OpenAI's GPT models.

The move deepens Microsoft's ​ties with Anthropic at a ‌time when investors have questioned its dependence on OpenAI, which accounts ​for nearly 45% of Microsoft's cloud business contract backlog.

(Reporting by Aditya ​Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)