Microsoft 365 Copilot AI's steep price is an ill omen for Windows users

If you thought that Microsoft wouldn't capitalize on its AI opportunity for businesses, think again. Microsoft will tell its corporate partners this week at Microsoft Inspire that it will charge a whopping $30 per user per month for Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft's AI-assisted features for its Microsoft 365 suite -- double what it's charging for Microsoft 365 by itself. Microsoft is also announcing a specialized version of Bing Chat for businesses, Bing Chat Enterprise, that will can be used to ask the AI questions about a company's confidential information without it being leaked outside of corporate firewalls. Microsoft is clearly betting that enterprises will value Microsoft 365 Copilot enough that they'll want to pay for the additional features Copilot offers, which vary by Office application. In fact, Microsoft isn't even saying when Microsoft 365 Copilot will be available this week at its Inspire conference -- just preparing those customers (specifically Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium customers) that they'll have to pay a ton for the additional AI services.