Microsoft, considering integrating DeepSeek

On June 17th, according to Zhidongxi, on June 16th local time, Microsoft announced that it will switch its enterprise AI tool Copilot Cowork to a pay - as - you - go model. According to foreign media Axios, while expanding access to the tool, Copilot Cowork is considering introducing the DeepSeek model hosted by Microsoft as a lower - cost model option in the near future.

Microsoft stated in its official blog that Copilot Cowork has been officially launched globally. This product requires users to have a Microsoft 365 Copilot user subscription license, and then it is billed based on usage. The cost is determined by the tasks run by the user and is priced in Copilot Credits. The price of each task is calculated based on four factors: model usage, context retrieval, tool invocation, and running time.

Copilot Cowork is a Microsoft's enterprise - oriented Agentic AI tool that can continuously call AI models during task execution. Similar to tools like Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex, this product can continuously break down tasks, call models, and execute steps after users assign tasks, thereby improving productivity. However, it may also lead to a rapidly increasing cost of AI calls.

The entrance of Microsoft Copilot Cowork (Source: Microsoft)

Charles Lamanna, the executive vice - president of Microsoft Copilot, Agent, and Platform, told Axios that test results show that Copilot Cowork cannot continue to be provided on an unlimited - usage basis.

Lamanna said, "Some of our users execute hundreds of tasks a week. They are very efficient, but as a result, the cost has become extremely high."

Axios reported that Microsoft is exploring using the fine - tuned DeepSeek V4 or an open - source model as a low - cost alternative for Copilot Cowork. Currently, Copilot Cowork is mainly supported by models from Anthropic and OpenAI. Microsoft expects to launch a low - cost model option in the next few weeks and will confirm the final choice at that time.

If Microsoft ultimately chooses DeepSeek, the model will be provided as an option to customers rather than being enabled by default. Microsoft said that the relevant models will be fully hosted on Azure. Customer data will remain within the Microsoft cloud and will be covered by Azure's enterprise security, compliance, and data residency controls. In addition, the company has fine - tuned the model and added security measures.

Conclusion: AI Agent products enter the cost - accounting stage

The switch of Copilot Cowork to a pay - as - you - go model shows that enterprise - level AI Agent products are entering the cost - accounting stage. To some extent, it also reflects Microsoft's recognition of the cost advantage and engineering capabilities of Chinese large models.

As Agent tools can continuously call models to complete complex tasks, model cost is no longer just a back - end technical issue but will directly affect product pricing, customer adoption thresholds, and manufacturers' model selection strategies.

Microsoft's evaluation of DeepSeek as a low - cost option also reflects that large - model applications are moving towards a more practical multi - model approach. For enterprise customers, when choosing AI tools in the future, they may not only consider model capabilities but also whether the cost, data boundaries, and compliance deployment methods can meet business requirements simultaneously.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Zhidongxi” (ID: zhidxcom). The author is Yang Jingli, and the editor is Li Shuiqing. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.