{
  "id": 4305071,
  "title": "Microsoft Strips Copilot's Free Features — and Puts Deep Research Behind a Subscription",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/29/microsoft-strips-copilots-free-features-and-puts-deep-research-behind",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-29T23:25:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/theaidownside/microsoft-strips-copilots-free-features-and-puts-deep-research-behind-a-subscription-6g6"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Microsoft has removed several free features from its Copilot app, including Deep Research, Group Chat, AI-generated Podcasts, Copilot Labs and the animated Mico character. The company is merging its consumer Copilot app with the business-oriented Microsoft 365 Copilot app, with the most useful features now behind a paid Microsoft 365 plan. Deep Research, a tool that compiled long, sourced reports from the web, has been replaced by Researcher, which is only available to Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers for $19.99 per month. The company has provided some means of saving and retrieving existing reports, but the burden of preservation falls on the user, with a save-or-lose deadline of 18 August. The removal and reclassification of features is not a scandal per se, but it is worth reading slowly to understand the implications, particularly the requirement for users to manually save and retrieve their own content before a deadline.",
  "summary": "Open the Microsoft Copilot app this week and it may be missing a few things you used. As of 18 August, Microsoft began retiring a clutch of free consumer features — the standout being Deep Research, the tool that turned a prompt into a long, sourced report — while it folds its two Copilot apps into one. The most useful of them doesn’t vanish so much as move: the in-depth research successor now…",
  "key_points": [
    "Microsoft removes free features from Copilot app",
    "Deep Research replaced by Researcher for $19.99/month",
    "Users must manually save and retrieve content before 18 August deadline"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}