Microsoft's Copilot Tasks: Autonomous AI Shifts to Cloud

Microsoft has revealed Copilot Tasks, a system where AI agents operate on their own cloud-based computers, not the user's device. This represents a strategic escalation from user-prompted helpers to persistent, background AI agents that handle work independently. By leveraging its cloud, Microsoft is moving beyond simple chatbots to create a more autonomous assistant, enabling sophisticated, long-running operations without taxing local device resources and escalating the race to build the dominant AI agent. This move pressures competitors like Google to accelerate their own cloud-agent strategies and challenges the on-device processing focus of rivals like Apple. For businesses, this promises significant productivity gains but also raises critical questions about data governance and the security of background-processed information. The development signals a future where an ecosystem's value is defined by its AI's autonomy, placing the onus on competitors to match this level of resource-intensive background functionality.