Microsoft 365 Premium brings pro-level AI features to your subscription – but only if you upgrade

• The new Microsoft 365 Premium plan comes online with upgraded Copilot AI powers
• Copilot Pro subscribers can simply switch to the new plan
• New icons introduced for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the rest of the Office apps

Microsoft 365 Premium launches today with upgraded AI features for $19.99 / £19 / AU$33 a month. It’s designed for people who want an enhanced AI experience that goes beyond what’s currently available in the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans, which is basic Copilot integration.

Earlier this year, Microsoft added Copilot to the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans. The new Premium service combines features from the existing Family and Copilot Pro plans, including higher usage limits for select Copilot features and access to premium AI features like Researcher, Analyst, and Actions, which enable you to get more detailed reports.

So, if you’re a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan holder who feels like they need a little more AI in their life, then this could be the new plan for you.

Even more AI for everyone

In a blog post, Yusuf Mehdi, Executive Vice President, Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, wrote, “Productivity is at the heart of our mission to help every person on the planet achieve more. And we believe that embedding AI into the flow of work unlocks new levels of productivity, helping everyone work smarter, faster, and more creatively. That’s why we’re continuing to deeply integrate Copilot, our powerful AI assistant, into our best-in-class productivity apps”.

While Microsoft 365 Personal ($9.99 per month) or Family subscribers ($12.99 per month) need to upgrade to join the Premium plan, Copilot Pro subscribers on the other hand, have the option of simply switching to Microsoft 365 Premium at no extra cost.

Microsoft 365 Premium also includes access to Microsoft’s new Photos Agent, 1 TB of secure cloud storage per person, and Microsoft Defender for advanced security protection. Microsoft has also announced that existing consumer subscribers to the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans will be getting higher Copilot usage limits and some new Copilot features, including Vision in the Copilot app and audio summarization and creation.

More upgrades

Copilot chat arrived in the stand-alone Microsoft Office apps for commercial customers this September, but now it's being rolled out to all individual subscribers and non-commercial customers as well. Copilot features like Researcher and Analyst will also be available to individual app subscribers. So, you can now use Copilot for drafting a document, analyzing data from spreadsheets, or simply helping with your email in all the Office apps you already subscribe to.

ChatGPT-4o’s native AI image generation is also coming to Copilot in Microsoft apps, so if you need an image for a PowerPoint presentation, you can now ask Copilot to generate it. Advanced voice mode is also available in Microsoft apps now, meaning you can just talk to Copilot instead of typing.

Employees of big companies often bring their own AI to work, using tools that aren’t secure. With Microsoft 365 Premium, you can actually bring your Copilot to work with enterprise data protection, secure infrastructure, multiple compliance certifications, and protection against harmful content, prompt injections, and more.

Finally, to reflect the new Copilot integration, Microsoft is also introducing new, simpler, refreshed app icons across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and more, which it says “reflect the new era of AI”. They're definitely more on-trend, with a cooler glassy look that makes them feel they belong in 2025.

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