What's new in GenAI land | Edition 13

The big players are giving their agents a permanent place in everyday work. At the same time, AI is getting more expensive: if you want the heaviest features, you now pay extra.

Every two weeks, we publish an overview on the Xylos blog of what is moving in generative AI, with the necessary context. It is based on the LinkedIn overview by Tom Van ’t veld, Learning Innovator at OASE (powered by Xylos). Tom follows the developments, we translate them into what they mean for organisations. Welcome to edition thirteen.

If you use Microsoft 365 Copilot, this month you will see the new Copilot screen that Microsoft announced at the end of September. Chat and Cowork come together on one Home screen. New tabs appear for Code, which lets you build apps and dashboards in plain language, and for Autopilot, an agent with its own identity and configurable permissions. Word, Excel and PowerPoint now open fully inside Copilot. 'Plugins' replaces the 'Agents' button. Standard customers get the new interface in October, organisations with deferred updates in November.

Quite a lot is shifting, so prepare your users before the update arrives. A short explanation or a few instruction videos will save your helpdesk a lot of questions. With OASE, we are already updating our learning material to the new interface.

At its DevDay, OpenAI presented Dots: agents on their own computer in the cloud. They keep working while your devices are off and check in with you when a decision is needed. You reach them via text message, Slack or Teams. OpenAI is also introducing ChatGPT Space, a shared workspace for colleagues and their agents. For regular Pro subscribers in Europe, Dots are not available for now. Business Premium and Enterprise customers do get them.

Google is launching the Gemini agent in Workspace. It schedules meetings, suggests tasks you can delegate and keeps working when your laptop is closed. Teams can create 'colleague agents' with their own email address and calendar. Gems are disappearing and will become skills for business accounts from March 2027. Claude, meanwhile, shows up in the Google camp with an add-on for Docs, Sheets and Slides.

Agents are getting their own identity, their own mailbox and access to your files. Agree in advance who may create an agent, which data it may use and who follows up on what it does. If you use Gems today, plan the move to skills now.

Microsoft will charge separately for Copilot's agent features. The fixed subscription still covers Copilot Chat and Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. Cowork, Code, Autopilot, the new SharePoint agents and the heaviest models are paid for separately, in Copilot Credits. The cost depends on the model, the duration of a task and the tools the agent uses. For new Copilot Business licences through a partner, this usage-based billing is switched on by default from 2 November.

AI is getting more expensive elsewhere too. Since 9 October, free Gemini users only have Flash-Lite. OpenAI is launching Pro 500, a subscription of 500 dollars per month.

Budgeting per user becomes a lot harder. As an admin, set a monthly limit and alerts right away and follow usage closely during the first months. That way you quickly see which teams use the agent features and where an extra budget pays off.

A developer used Claude to build open-source alternatives to Photoshop and six other Adobe programs. They are early alpha versions with plenty of gaps. Still, they show that large, expensive software packages are under pressure: if you can build something that does exactly what you need, you are less inclined to pay for features you never use.

Home-built tools have a downside too. Decide in advance who checks such an application for security and who keeps it up to date. Without those agreements, you are building shadow IT.

In an American survey by Visier, 48 percent of employees admit that they exaggerate their AI use or knowledge to make an impression. Almost half feel pressure to use AI without knowing how. The PwC Hopes and Fears survey among almost 50,000 employees points in the same direction: AI use is rising to 64 percent, while the share with access to the training they need is falling from 59 to 51 percent.

In an opinion piece, Szilvia van Oijen argues that AI speeds up individual steps, while the bottleneck shifts to reviewing and follow-up. According to her, the better question is 'where is our bottleneck?' rather than 'where can we use AI?'.

People who pretend feel insecure. So give your employees room to learn and first map out where they stand. With Xylos Insights, you see which knowledge is already there and where training makes the biggest difference.

To close: a 16-year-old in Canada had to be rescued from a mountain by helicopter after Claude recommended a route that requires climbing gear. The rescue service summed it up dryly: 'Claude has never been in this region.' Best to bring that hiking map after all.

We will be back in two weeks with the next edition.

Tom has worked at Xylos for years. He started as a Microsoft Office trainer and grew into the driving force behind innovative learning concepts. He co-founded OASE, the online learning platform of Xylos, and PlayForward, the new gamified learning brand of Xylos. He also developed the Digital Coach concept, a Microsoft Teams Escape Room app and the mAIndset game, which teaches employees to prompt AI in a playful way. As Learning Innovator, he has increasingly focused on what AI means for the way we learn and work. Want to respond or continue the conversation? Find him on LinkedIn.