Microsoft has quietly opened up its Frontier program—a public preview for Copilot and AI features—to Microsoft 365 Family and Personal subscribers. While Enterprise users have had access for a while, everyday users are now being invited to test AI-driven tools across Word, Excel, and the web apps. The process to sign up isn’t entirely clear yet, but here’s what we know about how to join Microsoft Frontier, the requirements, and what limitations to expect.
Microsoft Frontier is the public preview program for Copilot and AI features. It’s like Microsoft 365 Insiders, except for AI. Or in Microsoft’s wording
“Users get hands-on access to breakthrough capabilities and can share feedback with product teams to help shape the future of AI. With Frontier, you’re not just trying out new technology: you’re co-creating the future of AI.”
Frontier has been available to some Enterprise users but now is being extended to Microsoft 365 Family and Personal users.
Copilot Labs is a different thing with various experimental AI tools to try. We’ve already looked into the “3D” Labs tool to convert a still picture into a 3D model.
How to join Microsoft Frontier?
Good question and it’s a question that Microsoft hasn’t answered!
The blog post only says “Users will be able to opt-in to Frontier capabilities from the web versions of Microsoft 365 applications”.
Exactly how people can “opt-in” isn’t explained and some people have asked in the comments with no response so far.
Most likely the Frontier option will be obvious when it’s available however Microsoft should say that, perhaps with a screen shot of what to look for. That would be a simple courtesy to paying customers who might otherwise waste time hunting for an option that’s not there yet.
Frontier is a little more obvious in Excel on the web, under Home | Excel Labs there’s an Agent mode (Frontier). Maybe, hopefully, there’s be something similar in Word and Excel.
Frontier limitations … for now
If you are lucky enough to stumble over a Microsoft Frontier option, keep in mind.
- A paid Copilot plan is necessary in addition to a Microsoft 365 license.
- They are only available in the web based versions of Word, Excel and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Desktop apps will get it later.
- The Excel Agent is in English only, for the moment.
- The Office Agent (in Copilot) is for US customers only, for the moment.
