Microsoft is preparing to roll out a fresh Microsoft 365 subscription tier called E7, and the centerpiece is a bold move to license AI agents the same way it does human staff. The offering bundles the Copilot preview with a new management suite dubbed Agent 365, giving IT teams tools to govern digital workers that weren’t part of the existing E5 plan.
Analysts note that the shift reflects how AI assistants are being woven into daily workflows, essentially becoming another class of employee. Because these agents will act as digital workers, they’ll need proper identities, email addresses, Teams access, and the same policy controls that apply to people. Until now, all of those pieces have been tied to individual user subscriptions, but E7 promises to package everything together for easier administration.
Mary Jo Foley from Microsoft Directions points out that the strategy is to license AI agents just like any other employee, a move that could simplify onboarding and compliance. At about $99 a month—roughly the cost of E5 plus the Copilot add‑on—the price tag is not cheap, but it may appeal to organizations looking to trim the overhead of managing separate licenses and manual processes.
Lane Shelton, director of advisory services at Directions on Microsoft, frames E7 less as a new tier and more as Microsoft positioning itself as the “enterprise AI control plane” for digital workers. By putting AI agents under a licensing model, Microsoft is ensuring its revenue streams evolve alongside the growing AI‑driven workforce, keeping oversight tight while turning agent deployment into a monetizable service.
Here’s the hot take: licensing AI agents like employees is a cash grab that will force companies to rethink budgeting, but it also pushes the industry to finally treat digital workers with the same seriousness we give our human colleagues.
Via Microsoft plans to license AI agents like employees
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