Microsoft says business must pay to use its AI — and eyes cheap Chinese model for lowly consumers

Just months after integrating customers into its massive AI user base, Microsoft is walking back its promise of being the everyday productivity app for work and life.That is, of course, unless businesses are willing to pay.'... it is not possible to offer Cowork as an unlimited service.'In January, Microsoft quickly turned its customer base of more than 430 million paid users of Microsoft 365 into AI users by combining its Office Suite with its Copilot AI.The Microsoft 365 Copilot app is your everyday productivity app for work and life that helps you find and edit files, scan documents, and create content on the go, the company said at the time.It seems, however, that Microsoft has realized what many companies have: Unfettered AI usage is awfully expensive. Therefore the Bill Gates brand says it will start charging companies using Copilot's Cowork feature based on how much they use.Microsoft already charges and arm and a leg for its Microsoft 365 Business platforms, with prices ranging from 1,500 per year (12.50 per person) for its standard version to 2,640 per year (22 per person) for 10 business licenses, for example.According to a new report by Axios, Microsoft will charge companies that use Copilot Cowork based on usage. Cowork is an AI service that sends emails, schedules meetings, creates documents, and manages the user's calendar.Charles Lamanna, Microsoft's executive VP for Copilot, told Axios that it is not possible to offer Cowork as an unlimited service.RELATED: Top companies admit humans cost less than AI — but still want more bots Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images We have users who do hundreds of tasks a week, which is great — they're way productive — but the consequence is the costs can go very high, Lamanna said.Instead, Microsoft is considering offering a version of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI program, at a lesser price. Axios reported that the model would be offered as a lower-cost alternative that is fully hosted on Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform.However, since DeepSeek typically withholds user data in China, the Microsoft version would keep user data in Western hands by storing it on its own service.RELATED: Sick of Microsoft's preinstalled propaganda on your PC? Block it now. Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images Blaze News previously reported on large companies that were starting to understand the full cost of using metered AI services.For example, Uber reportedly used up its entire 2026 budget for AI in just four months.At the beginning of June, a report circulated from an AI consultant that said one company he worked with racked up around 500 million in AI usage in just one month.AI pricing structures vary, but costs pile up when employees are encouraged to integrate AI into workflow, such as when making large documents.Anthropic's Claude may charge just under 5 to produce around 1,000 average-sized images, but dollar signs stack when using the AI for coding or for large documents that charge based on tokens. For Claude, one token is equal to approximately four written characters in English text or 0.75 words. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!