Microsoft has halted automatic installations of its Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows devices following widespread complaints from IT administrators about forced deployments. The company confirmed it temporarily disabled the rollout that was originally scheduled for October 2025, then delayed to December 2025, and now paused indefinitely.
Administrators can still deploy the app through other methods but must wait for further updates, according to a Microsoft 365 Message Center post seen by Windows Latest. The change excludes customers in the European Economic Area who were already out of scope for the automatic installation program.
The pause comes as Microsoft restructures its AI leadership team, naming former Snap executive Jacob Andreou as executive vice president in charge of both consumer and commercial Copilot experiences. Andreou will report directly to CEO Satya Nadella, who announced the consolidation of engineering groups for workplace and personal Copilot assistants in a Tuesday memo to employees.
"This app provides a centralized entry point for accessing Copilot experiences and AI-powered capabilities across Microsoft 365," Microsoft stated about the now-paused deployment. "This change simplifies access to Copilot and ensures users can easily discover and engage with productivity-enhancing features."
Starting April 15, 2026, commercial customers without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will lose direct access to Copilot Chat in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote applications. Those users will need to use the separate Microsoft 365 Copilot app instead, though Outlook functionality with inbox and calendar grounding will remain available without additional licensing.
The company will add in-product labels distinguishing between "Copilot Chat (Basic)" for unlicensed users and "M365 Copilot (Premium)" for those with paid licenses. About 3% of commercial users with Office productivity software subscriptions currently have access to the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on.
Microsoft's Copilot app had 6 million daily active users in February compared to OpenAI's ChatGPT at 440 million and Google's Gemini at 82 million, according to Sensor Tower data cited by CNBC. So far in March, Anthropic's Claude reached 9 million daily users while Copilot remained at 6 million.
The leadership changes free up Mustafa Suleyman, former co-founder of DeepMind acquired by Google in 2014, to focus on building new AI models through Microsoft's superintelligence group. "The next phase of this plan is to restructure our organization to enable me to focus all my energy on our Superintelligence efforts," Suleyman wrote in his memo.
Microsoft originally planned automatic installation of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows devices with Microsoft 365 desktop client apps starting last October. The opt-out-by-default approach increased administrative workload and forced IT decisions based on Redmond's schedule rather than corporate timelines.
