Leak suggests Microsoft plans to charge for a Copilot Pro subscription with the best features

Microsoft could be planning a Copilot Pro subscription service if a fresh leak is anything to go by.

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Copilot might be free now, but that may not always be the case - Microsoft will look to monetize the AI somehow (Image Credit: Microsoft)

Currently, the Copilot AI is free, but that might change if some hidden code that Android Authority unearthed (via TechRadar) turns out to indicate the direction Microsoft is going to head in.

The code is for a 'Copilot Pro' in Edge which is paywalled and requires a subscription. The text provided says the paid version has the following benefits:

"Get the latest AI models, priority access for quick answers, and high-quality image creation with Copilot Pro."

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Of course, right now, the free version of Copilot offers the latest ChatGPT engine and top-level image creation capabilities, so the assumption is that down the line, Microsoft is going to introduce this Pro version which will snaffle that functionality.

Presumably, the free Copilot will be one step behind with its ChatGPT engine, as well as lagging with image creation skills. Also, Copilot Pro users will be prioritized for quicker replies to queries - though whether that means Copilot free will be slower than it is now is anyone's guess. Hopefully not.

At any rate, we shouldn't get carried away with speculating about what is just a few lines of code - found in the Android APK (for the Edge app, the Canary version to be precise) - at this point in time.

It's likely that Microsoft will want to monetize Copilot at some stage, at least in some manner, and reserving the top features for paying users - while still giving freebie users a good level of service (we hope) - is at least better than the alternative. Namely peppering Copilot with ads or 'suggestions' of one kind or another.

Although the danger is that perhaps both of these approaches could eventually come into play: a Pro version with no ads, and a free version which is cut back and comes with advertising to boot. The worst of both worlds, in some ways, so it's another case of hoping for the best.

Whatever the case, it's clear enough that Microsoft is building a lot of its hopes for the future around Copilot, inserting the AI into various Windows 11 apps (namely Paint, and Notepad is next in line), and porting it over to Windows 10 (which wasn't the initial plan for sure).

Nothing more clearly illustrates Microsoft's focus on Copilot than deciding it shouldn't be exclusive to Windows 11, and used as a carrot to upgrade, because the user numbers for the AI are clearly more important than the adoption of its newest desktop OS.

In other recent Copilot news, Microsoft is popping the AI up on the desktop right after boot-up - at least for some PCs (in testing).