Satya Nadella highlights 5 big AI innovations across Microsoft 365, signalling next phase of ‘model forward’ AI push

Microsoft chairman and chief executive Satya Nadella has outlined a sweeping new phase of AI-driven innovation across Microsoft 365, introducing features designed to make work more intelligent, connected, and collaborative.

Nadella highlights ‘Model-forward innovation’ across Microsoft 365

In a post on X on 5 October 2025, Nadella highlighted several major upgrades to Microsoft’s productivity suite, emphasising the company’s “model-forward” approach to integrating generative AI into everyday tools.

“Supercharged past few weeks as we push the bounds of model-forward innovation across Microsoft 365. A few highlights:
1/ My new favorite IDE is Excel with Agent Mode! Give Copilot a prompt, and it builds directly in your workbook, not the chat.

2/ One of the first multi-player AI experiences. Collaborative agents in Teams, grounded in the context of your group, channel, or meeting. I use this all the time with my team!

3/ With Knowledge Agent, intelligence lights up with enterprise graph data.

4/ GitHub for Microsoft Teams. Go from conversation to code directly in Teams. Turn your group chats into tasks for the Copilot coding agent with a simple at-mention.

5/ Model choice! Switch between OpenAI and Anthropic in Researcher to get the best fit for the job.”

He added in a follow-up post, “Excited for all this and much more to come!”

Microsoft 365 Premium: the new flagship subscription

The announcement follows Microsoft’s detailed blog post on 1 October unveiling Microsoft 365 Premium, the company’s most advanced AI and productivity subscription for individuals, priced at $19.99 per month. The new plan combines the features of Microsoft 365 Family and Copilot Pro with higher usage limits and early access to experimental AI capabilities such as Office Agent and Agent Mode.

The company said the move reflects its mission to “help every person on the planet achieve more” by deeply embedding AI into the flow of work. “Embedding AI into the flow of work unlocks new levels of productivity, helping everyone work smarter, faster, and more creatively,” Microsoft wrote.

Key additions to Microsoft 365 Premium include:

• Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook desktop apps with Copilot built in.
• Access to Researcher and Analyst, Microsoft’s reasoning agents for deep research and content generation.
• Early access to Office Agent and Agent Mode for creating expert-quality documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from a single prompt.
• Higher usage limits for Copilot features such as 4o image generation, Voice, Vision, Deep Research, and Podcasts.
• Access to a new Photos Agent in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.
• 1TB of secure cloud storage per person and Microsoft Defender advanced protection.

As part of a broader simplification of its offerings, Microsoft confirmed it will discontinue Copilot Pro, encouraging existing users to switch to Microsoft 365 Premium for greater value.

The company also announced enhanced Copilot usage limits for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers and rolled out Copilot Chat directly inside Microsoft 365 apps, creating a unified chat experience across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Microsoft said it is also addressing the trend of employees using unsanctioned AI tools at work. According to its latest Work Trend Index, 82 per cent of employees are already experimenting with external AI. With the new plans, Microsoft is offering a secure way to use Copilot with built-in enterprise data protection, compliance certifications, and content safeguards.