Microsoft wants you to pay 300 per year for AI art in Word

Today, you can ask Microsoft Copilot to draw an AI-generated image of a strawberry pie for free, right from within Windows. But if you want to do the same thing in Microsoft Word, it will cost you at least 26 dollars per month. Does that make sense to you? AI art has existed within Microsoft's ecosystem since 2022, when Microsoft released its first beta of Microsoft Bing Image Creator. That later became Microsoft Designer, the design tool that Microsoft developed to compete against Canva. This week, Microsoft said that Designer's AI art capabilities would roll out in several of its apps and services, including Photos, Word, and PowerPoint. There's a catch, though: Those capabilities don't come for free.