Microsoft is bundling its Copilot generative AI (genAI) assistant with consumer Microsoft 365 subscriptions in several countries, thecompany announced last week.Copilot Pro will be included in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions inAustralia, Malaysia,New Zealand,Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand,the companysaid in astatement firstspotted byZDNet.It means users will gain access to Copilot features in apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.Designer Microsofts text-to-image appis also included.Microsoft willalsoincrease the cost of the subscriptionpriceswill vary in each countrythough this will be less than the cost of a separate Copilot Pro subscription. Australian customers, for example, will pay an additional $4 AUD a month for M365 Family subscriptions, and an extra $5 AUD for M365 Personal subscriptions, according toThe Verge. In comparison, Copilot Pro costs $33 AUD per user each month.Customers will be limited in how much they use Copilot in apps,however, with acredit systemin place. Those who want unrestricted access will need to pay for a Copilot Pro subscription.Microsoft didnt say whether it plans toextend thechangesto consumer M365 subscriptionsin other regions, but its possible the move is a trial run for US and European markets.In the US, Copilot Pro costs an extra $20 per userpermonth for M365 Family and Personal customers.I suspect this is just the first step in[Microsoft]bundling Copilot to a larger audience, said Jack Gold,founder and principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.The initial countries are probably a trial deployment to see how it goes, what the most common uses are, and how much they can charge. Ill bet that in the next[one to two]quarters,youll see a much wider rollout to many other countries.Itsalsopossible theCopilotbundlinginconsumer M365 subscriptions could presage a similar move for business customers, thoughtheres no mention of such a move on the horizonjust yet.Microsoft charges an extra $30-per-user-a-month fee to businesses for access to Copilot in Microsoft 365.Despiteconsiderable interest in the M365 Copilot, businesses have beenslow to rollout thegenAI assistant widely across their organizations, in part due to high costs and a perceived lack of value.Its likely this will be the case sooner or later: Analysts at Gartnerhave said theyexpectgenAI featurestobe included at no extra cost in office software subscriptions by 2028, according to arecent report(subscription required), as vendors seek broader adoption of their AI tools.For Microsoft, this couldevenmean the addition of a new M365 pricing tierthe long-rumored E7that would include premium features currently available as paid-for add-ons, such as Copilot.