Microsoft rolls out Copilot "vibe working" mode for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

[Alfonso Maruccia]

In brief: Microsoft is bringing Copilot's "agentic" mode to its Office productivity suite. With it, users will be able to provide instructions and let the system generate documents on their behalf. Despite ongoing concerns about hallucinations, the Redmond-based company says customers have responded positively to these capabilities.

Microsoft introduced Copilot's agent mode in 2025, promising customers new "intelligent" ways to streamline document creation while large language models handle much of the work. The feature is now generally available across at least three applications in the Microsoft 365 suite, reflecting Microsoft's broader push to embed AI more deeply into productivity tools.

Copilot's agentic capabilities now work in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, according to Sumit Chauhan, president of the Office Product Group. The feature is included in several Microsoft 365 subscription plans and is part of the default experience, which Microsoft says has led to stronger customer engagement based on early feedback.

Chauhan explained that Copilot's agent mode can make substantial changes to documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, enabled by recent advances in foundation models. Earlier versions of Copilot were not as capable and were largely limited to assisting rather than actively performing end-to-end document creation and editing tasks.

In just a year, large language models have reportedly made significant gains in "reasoning" capabilities. Chatbots are now better able to follow user instructions, produce higher-quality outputs, and handle multi-step editing tasks more reliably – while still generally adhering to the original prompt.

Copilot can now be considered a real collaborator for writing documents, processing data, and selecting appropriate animations to complete multi-deck presentations.

Microsoft built the new functionality in close partnership with customers, Chauhan said, and the result feels "magical" and comparable to high-quality human creative output.

Microsoft is also providing guidance and tips to help users get the most out of Copilot's agentic mode. The system performs best when users already have a clear idea of what they need, focusing on formatting and data transformation rather than open-ended content generation. The Work IQ intelligence layer helps maintain context, enabling Copilot to base its edits on user signals and select the appropriate AI model for each task.

The feature is now available – and enabled by default – for customers on Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Premium, and Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans.

Microsoft is currently working on further improvements to Copilot's agentic mode, including the ability to manage more complex workflows more reliably. The company also plans to strengthen Copilot's role as a cross-application system, while maintaining user control and the ability to review and approve its changes.

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Microsoft rolls out Copilot "vibe working" mode for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

 

[NumberNine]

while maintaining user control and the ability to review and approve its changes

Well that's awfully generous of them to let the users participate.

 

[yRaz]

When is all this money in AI going to vibe pay my bills? What's funny is that private equity lobbied to have access to money in my 401k and pension fund saying people are entitled to greater returns, but PE investments have raised the cost of food, housing and their irresponsible investments are like to crash the economy and I'll lose tons of money in my pension and 401k

 

[scoffer]

When is all this money in AI going to vibe pay my bills? What's funny is that private equity lobbied to have access to money in my 401k and pension fund saying people are entitled to greater returns, but PE investments have raised the cost of food, housing and their irresponsible investments are like to crash the economy and I'll lose tons of money in my pension and 401k

I realize that you guys in the US have to put up with the legalized crooks doing lobbying ( ooops...bribing), but I didn't know that they could try to get their hands on your 401K funds...FFS..!

 

[scoffer]

Meanwhile:
[HEADING=2]"Microsoft warns Windows 11 users this AI feature can install viruses"[/HEADING]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/technolog...is-ai-feature-can-install-viruses/ar-AA1Rrsvr

Gotta hand it the AI numpties...........they are certainly making a good job of f*****g up the world.

(Cue the regular AI shill).

 

[yRaz]

I realize that you guys in the US have to put up with the legalized crooks doing lobbying ( ooops...bribing), but I didn't know that they could try to get their hands on your 401K funds...FFS..!

People don't really understand the financial crisis that's coming from the combination of AI, private equity and the money that's being stolen out of retirement accounts of US citizens to pay for it. I have little control of my 401k and pension, but luckily I have a ROTH that I can micro manage and that's likely to be my saving grace so I still have a chance at retirement

 

[acrossthestars]

With it, users will be able to provide instructions and let the system generate documents on their behalf...

...and plagiarism used to require effort. Now even that might be too demanding.

 

[OortCloud]

When you see 'vibe' replace it mentally with 'not really'. Not really coding, not really working etc - you get the picture.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

People don't really understand the financial crisis that's coming from the combination of AI, private equity and the money that's being stolen out of retirement accounts of US citizens to pay for it. I have little control of my 401k and pension, but luckily I have a ROTH that I can micro manage and that's likely to be my saving grace so I still have a chance at retirement

What money is being stolen out of 401Ks?!? I don't believe that.

Sure the government has stolen social security, but 401Ks are owned by the account holder. They were setup like that because company pensions proved to be a terrible idea.

 

[yRaz]

What money is being stolen out of 401Ks?!? I don't believe that.

Sure the government has stolen social security, but 401Ks are owned by the account holder. They were setup like that because company pensions proved to be a terrible idea.

So there are limitations that are supposed to be put in place to protect these accounts after so many people lost money in their retirement accounts because of the sub prime loan market. Basically bundling bad assets with good assets and selling them as good assets. This provision is still in place, but it also covered things like Private Equity. A few years ago, private equity lobbied congress saying "hey, our returned are higher than ETF's and we aren't bundling assets like the 2008 crisis, people could be making greater gains in their retirement accounts." Well, congress now allows 401k's and Pension funds to invest money with Private equity. I have zero control over my pension and my employer 401k only allows me 3 options, it's not a private plan. Think of them as "low medium and high" and they outsource the management of it out to some company. This is why I have a private RothIRA with JPMorgan that allows me 100% control. I take money out of my own paycheck and put it in my IRA. The thing is, many people don't try to manage their retirement accounts, it's a set and forget thing for many people and they get an update in the mail once a month or quarterly.

The problem is, that Private Equity is now is receiving money from pension funds and 401k. They can also be bundled into ETFs so even if you manage your own account, depending on the ETF, there could be a PE company bundled in it.

But what I find really disgusting is that private and governemtn pension funds are now giving money to PE. That teacher putting money into her pension every paycheck is now giving money to PE that comes in, buys up property and she now is getting priced out of her own neighborhood.

Something that partiularly is pissing me off about this right now is that I live in Pittsburgh, one of the *prevously* most affordable cities in the US. PE came in and bought up most of the properties in starter neighborhoods and delisted the properties essentially creating ghost towns. A big example of this is Brentwood, a town very close to Downtown. While it was usually a high crime area, you USED to beable to buy a house there for under $50k until just about 3 years ago. The town is now 3/4s empty. It was on major transitelines, very close to some of the best shopping and entertaint in the City. PE came in, bought up all the property and just took them off the market. This has sent ripple effects in this and the surrounding counties increasing property values and rents. Now Pittsburgh was never a very high income city, that's why I travel for work.

Me in my wife bought our home in 2018 and it has more than 3X'd since then, good news, right? Now, because now my property and school taxes hace gone way up. My money in my pension fund and 401k are going to these people for them to buy up all the affordable housing, create ghost towns, increase the homeless population and raise my taxes while they're at it.

6-7 years ago, Pittsburgh didn't have a homeless population because the rent was so damn cheap. You could get a 3 bedroom house with a job at McDonalds. The real kicker is that our population has been decreasing by 2-3% a year since 2003. Ever wonder why there is a Steeler bar in every town you go? It's because everyone is leaving taking our culture with us. We have 23 years of population decreases and that's only since we started taking census data. 23 years of population decreases and it's a "supply issue"? There are multiple neighborhoods that are now ghost towns that young people used to be able to buy their first home in for cash

 

[ScottSoapbox]

So there are limitations that are supposed to be put in place to protect these accounts after so many people lost money in their retirement accounts because of the sub prime loan market. Basically bundling bad assets with good assets and selling them as good assets. This provision is still in place, but it also covered things like Private Equity. A few years ago, private equity lobbied congress saying "hey, our returned are higher than ETF's and we aren't bundling assets like the 2008 crisis, people could be making greater gains in their retirement accounts." Well, congress now allows 401k's and Pension funds to invest money with Private equity. I have zero control over my pension and my employer 401k only allows me 3 options, it's not a private plan. Think of them as "low medium and high" and they outsource the management of it out to some company. This is why I have a private RothIRA with JPMorgan that allows me 100% control. I take money out of my own paycheck and put it in my IRA. The thing is, many people don't try to manage their retirement accounts, it's a set and forget thing for many people and they get an update in the mail once a month or quarterly.

The problem is, that Private Equity is now is receiving money from pension funds and 401k. They can also be bundled into ETFs so even if you manage your own account, depending on the ETF, there could be a PE company bundled in it.

But what I find really disgusting is that private and governemtn pension funds are now giving money to PE. That teacher putting money into her pension every paycheck is now giving money to PE that comes in, buys up property and she now is getting priced out of her own neighborhood.

Something that partiularly is pissing me off about this right now is that I live in Pittsburgh, one of the *prevously* most affordable cities in the US. PE came in and bought up most of the properties in starter neighborhoods and delisted the properties essentially creating ghost towns. A big example of this is Brentwood, a town very close to Downtown. While it was usually a high crime area, you USED to beable to buy a house there for under $50k until just about 3 years ago. The town is now 3/4s empty. It was on major transitelines, very close to some of the best shopping and entertaint in the City. PE came in, bought up all the property and just took them off the market. This has sent ripple effects in this and the surrounding counties increasing property values and rents. Now Pittsburgh was never a very high income city, that's why I travel for work.

Me in my wife bought our home in 2018 and it has more than 3X'd since then, good news, right? Now, because now my property and school taxes hace gone way up. My money in my pension fund and 401k are going to these people for them to buy up all the affordable housing, create ghost towns, increase the homeless population and raise my taxes while they're at it.

6-7 years ago, Pittsburgh didn't have a homeless population because the rent was so damn cheap. You could get a 3 bedroom house with a job at McDonalds. The real kicker is that our population has been decreasing by 2-3% a year since 2003. Ever wonder why there is a Steeler bar in every town you go? It's because everyone is leaving taking our culture with us. We have 23 years of population decreases and that's only since we started taking census data. 23 years of population decreases and it's a "supply issue"? There are multiple neighborhoods that are now ghost towns that young people used to be able to buy their first home in for cash

Some quick research shows this was due to President Trump's Executive Order 14330 (not congress) allowing "alternative investments" including private equity, private credit, real estate, and cryptocurrency in August 2025.

Notably those are PE based Funds not direct PE investment. So PE doesn't take the money directly anymore than Apple does when someone buys its stock.

So PE is not stealing money from 401Ks and pensions. Trump's EO is allowing 401Ks and pensions the option to invest in much riskier options (in the hopes of better return rewards). Which I agree is bad, as the added risk isn't worth the potential upside over a traditional stock based fund, but it isn't stealing.

The PE investors can cash out their shares easier but I would be more concerned about the crypto aspect. PE is mostly the worst parts of crony-capitalism, but their poorly run underlying businesses are still something whereas most crypto can quickly go to zero (pump and dump).

I would complain to HR about your 401K. 3 options is terrible. Most have 12-30 options.

 

[yRaz]

Some quick research shows this was due to President Trump's Executive Order 14330 (not congress) allowing "alternative investments" including private equity, private credit, real estate, and cryptocurrency in August 2025.

Notably those are PE based Funds not direct PE investment. So PE doesn't take the money directly anymore than Apple does when someone buys its stock.

So PE is not stealing money from 401Ks and pensions. Trump's EO is allowing 401Ks and pensions the option to invest in much riskier options (in the hopes of better return rewards). Which I agree is bad, as the added risk isn't worth the potential upside over a traditional stock based fund, but it isn't stealing.

The PE investors can cash out their shares easier but I would be more concerned about the crypto aspect. PE is mostly the worst parts of crony-capitalism, but their poorly run underlying businesses are still something whereas most crypto can quickly go to zero (pump and dump).

I would complain to HR about your 401K. 3 options is terrible. Most have 12-30 options.

I mostly don't care about my 401k. I have a union pension that's separate from my employer and I've had my IRA longer than my job. I was still in college when I started my IRA. And I would pick the low and slow option on any 401k option whether I had 3 or 300.