Microsoft is merging its two Copilot apps into one and is taking the opportunity to remove features that never attracted enough users. Group chats, AI-generated podcasts, the experimental Copilot Labs, and Deep Research for regular users are all being discontinued as of today. The animated character Mico is also going away.
From a "generational shift" to cutbacks
Two years ago, Microsoft described artificial intelligence as a generational turning point in technology that it intended to lead. Now, however, it is taking a different direction. It will merge the features of the consumer Copilot app with the version it offered to businesses under the name Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft detailed the changes in its support documentation. The company presents the move as a simplification. At the same time, however, it acknowledges two things: that personal and professional uses of artificial intelligence commonly overlap, and that the previous division was too complicated for Copilot to compete with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.
The merged app will arrive in stages
The two apps will be combined into a single app called Microsoft Copilot and will receive a new icon. Microsoft began the migration with a small group of testers in the Windows Insider program. The global rollout then began in mid-August for the mobile and web versions, with the Windows and Mac apps set to follow in mid-September. The business website is moving from m365.cloud.microsoft to copilot.cloud.microsoft, with redirects starting at the end of August. Users of the Copilot mobile app will then need to download its updated version.
What will disappear and what you need to save yourself
The changes will be felt most by users who used Copilot for free. Group chats will not be transferred to the new app. Users will lose entire threads, messages, and images. Anyone who wants to preserve their data must copy or download it manually. Microsoft is discontinuing the podcast feature entirely. After the specified date, podcasts will no longer be available to create or open, although users can download individual files in advance.
Deep Research, a tool that browsed websites and compiled more extensive analyses from them, is also disappearing from the consumer version. Paying business users, however, will receive a replacement in the form of the Researcher feature. Files created in the standalone Copilot app will be moved to OneDrive. Microsoft warns in advance that some features may temporarily stop working during this transition. Users who reach their free cloud storage limit will then have to consider switching to a paid plan.
Mico lasted less than a year
The most symbolic cut concerns the character Mico. It was a floating animated figure that observers quickly dubbed Clippy for the AI era. Microsoft introduced it in October 2025 and is now removing it from Copilot's voice mode; it will move to the Learn Live educational section, where it will serve as a teacher. Ten months is simply a short lifespan, even for a Microsoft mascot.
Everyone is cutting back
Microsoft is not alone. Anthropic connected workplace features with its chat, OpenAI integrated the Operator assistant into ChatGPT, and Google enhanced the Gemini app with deeper search capabilities linked to web browsing. Instead of five separate tools, companies are now offering a single window that can do absolutely everything.
What is behind the cutbacks
The cutbacks are being driven by highly unfavorable analyses from both the market and within the company. Although Microsoft keeps its consumer Copilot usage figures secret, analytics firm Sensor Tower estimated its July audience at 38.5 million monthly users, which is only a fraction compared with ChatGPT's one billion. The Information also highlighted an internal memo in which Copilot division head Jacob Andreou wrote that the app still had to earn its place in the sun with customers. According to him, in practice this meant cutting all features that people did not use.
Sources: techcrunch.com and lifehacker.com
