News

Microsoft Introduces Pay-Per-Use AI Agents to Microsoft 365

• By Chris Paoli
• January 16, 2025

A new Microsoft 365 tool called Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat brings the power of AI agents to commercial customers.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat combines advanced AI capabilities with enterprise-grade controls to create a flexible, secure and scalable solution. It enables customers spin up AI agents on a pay-as-you-go basis. The agents can be used to automate repetitive tasks and improve workflows using natural language commands. The agents are priced on a metered basis, with IT teams maintaining full control over their deployment and management.

In a blog post, Microsoft's Richard Riley explained how the cost-per-use of Copilot Chat will work: "Usage of agents is measured in 'messages,' and total cost is calculated based on the sum of messages used by your organization. You can purchase messages through the Copilot Studio meter in Microsoft Azure, a pay-as-you-go option, for $0.01 per message, or via prepaid message packs priced at $200 for 25,000 messages per month."

The type of response will also determine how many messages are used. Classic answers are predefined, manually created responses that remain static unless updated by developers. These are ideal for scenarios requiring precise and consistent answers and are charged as one message per response.

In contrast, generative answers are dynamically produced based on knowledge sources and the context of the conversation. These responses provide more natural and flexible interactions but are charged as two messages per response.

Tenant Graph grounding provides agents with contextual data from Microsoft Graph, such as files stored in SharePoint and external sources connected via Graph connectors. It excludes personal data like emails and chats. Each knowledge retrieval through Tenant Graph grounding costs 30 messages. While optional, organizations can enable or disable this feature in Copilot Studio.

The rollout of this feature will occur in phases. Billing has already begun for new agents using the feature in Copilot Studio, while existing agents that enabled it during the preview will be billed starting Feb. 1. However, Microsoft 365 Copilot users can access Tenant Graph grounding for messages at no extra cost as part of their license.

Microsoft also announced that autonomous actions, a feature enabling agents to automate complex business processes, will transition to a paid preview on Feb. 1. Autonomous actions use AI to trigger workflows, connect data, and orchestrate tasks. These actions, visible in the activity map within generative orchestration mode, will cost 25 messages per action. The move follows strong interest in autonomous capabilities since their public preview launch in November.

For IT teams, Microsoft has included Copilot Chat tools -- such as data protection, agent lifecycle management, and governance tools to ensure secure and compliant use of AI -- within its Copilot Control System.