Microsoft will retire Deep Research from the consumer Copilot app on August 18, 2026. The feature, which could produce long-form, cited reports by browsing the web for several minutes, will stop accepting new queries, as first reported by Windows Report. Existing reports will remain in chat histories or inside Researcher for qualifying subscribers, but generating fresh deep research will require a Microsoft 365 Premium subscription or a commercial Copilot license. For millions of Personal and Family subscribers, the retirement means losing a powerful tool unless they pay more—or switch to a competitor.
The concrete details of what's going away
Deep Research was an option within the Copilot app that tackled complex, open-ended questions. Instead of returning a paragraph, it planned a research path, gathered multiple sources, and delivered a structured report with citations. On August 18, Microsoft will disable that option. The support page is blunt: \"Deep Research will no longer be available in Copilot.\"
The replacement, Researcher, is a more advanced agent inside Microsoft 365 Copilot. It can search public websites and, for subscribers with work accounts, authorized internal data like emails, documents, and meeting notes. Researcher then compiles findings into a report that can be refined in Word or turned into a presentation. But the transition isn't a one-to-one swap.
- Deep Research lived in the consumer Copilot app. It required no special subscription beyond a Microsoft account and was available on the web, Windows, and mobile.
- Researcher is part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot ecosystem. It requires either a Microsoft 365 Premium subscription (for consumers) or a Microsoft 365 Copilot license (for business/enterprise). Access is gated behind these plans.
Because the two are \"separate experiences,\" as Microsoft puts it, users should not expect identical behavior. Reports may differ in style, citations, and depth. Old prompts might need rephrasing.
What this means for you, based on your plan
Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers
You can open old Deep Research reports by scrolling through Copilot chat history. But after August 18, you won't be able to initiate new ones. The \"alternative\" Microsoft recommends—Researcher—is not included in your current plan. You'll need to upgrade to Microsoft 365 Premium or seek a third-party option.
Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers
You gain Researcher as the replacement. Existing Deep Research content should appear within Researcher, and you can keep creating detailed reports. This likely improves your workflow over time because Researcher connects to more tools and data, but expect an adjustment period as you learn the new interface.
Business and enterprise users with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Researcher is already part of your subscription. The retirement of consumer Deep Research has no impact on your work, except perhaps reducing confusion. For your organization, Researcher's ability to pull from internal Microsoft Graph data (with respect to permissions) makes it far more powerful than the consumer version ever was. It can blend public market data with internal sales notes, for example, to produce a company-specific analysis.
Windows users who just click the Copilot icon
Beware: there are many \"Copilots.\" The retirement applies to Deep Research in the consumer Copilot app, not to Researcher in Microsoft 365 Copilot. If you open the Copilot sidebar on Windows and look for a deep research button, you won't find it unless your account has the right license. The branding suggests one assistant, but the reality is a patchwork of features spread across different tiers and applications.
The winding road that led to this moment
Microsoft's AI ambition began with Bing Chat in early 2023, then exploded across products. The Copilot name eventually covered everything from a Windows taskbar chat to enterprise-grade compliance tools. That sprawl created duplication. Deep Research appeared as part of the industry's rush toward \"agentic\" AI—software that doesn't just answer but acts, slowly, over multiple steps. Google, OpenAI, and others launched similar features.
In March 2025, Microsoft introduced Researcher and Analyst agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Researcher was built for investigation; Analyst for data crunching. Suddenly, the company had two research features: one in the consumer app and one in the premium suite. The overlap was obvious. Consolidation was a matter of time.
Microsoft chose Researcher as the survivor because it fits the company's bet on specialized agents. Researcher can be upgraded to use multiple models—for example, one model drafts a report while another critiques it (a technique called \"Critique\" internally)—or even pull in models from different providers to cross-check conclusions. That multi-model flexibility makes Researcher a better long-term platform than a static consumer feature. But it also means the least-expensive subscriptions lose access to a capability that was once free.
What to do immediately: a practical checklist
The August 18 deadline is more than a month away, but acting now prevents last-minute panic.
- Export your reports. Open important Deep Research reports in Microsoft Word and save local copies. Do the same for the original prompts and any clarifying questions. Chat histories are not reliable archives.
- If you're on Microsoft 365 Premium, start testing Researcher now. Replicate a few past Deep Research tasks and note differences. Adjust your prompt style as needed. Familiarity with Researcher's questioning phase (it often asks follow-ups) will save time later.
- Personal and Family subscribers should evaluate the upsell. Is deep research worth the cost of a Premium subscription? Compare with alternatives like ChatGPT's paid tiers, Google's Gemini Advanced, or Perplexity Pro. Each has different strengths. Factor in that Researcher can mesh with your Microsoft files if you upgrade.
- Business admins: lock down data before Researcher finds it. Even though Researcher obeys permissions, many organizations have overly broad sharing. Review access controls, sensitivity labels, and DLP policies. An AI agent can surface forgotten documents as easily as deliberate ones.
- Preserve any Copilot Podcasts episodes. Reports suggest Copilot Podcasts will also be retired on August 18, and its episodes may become inaccessible. Microsoft has not issued official guidance on podcasts, so download anything you want to keep.
The bigger picture: trust in an agent-driven future
Microsoft is asking users to trust Copilot as a long-term workspace, but feature retirements test that trust. When AI-generated reports or podcasts become orphaned, people hesitate to build workflows around experimental tools. The contrast between Deep Research (reports preserved) and Copilot Podcasts (episodes likely lost) shows an inconsistent approach to data stewardship.
Researcher is a promising step toward AI agents that can handle multi-hour tasks and coordinate across applications. Its ability to co-mingle public and private data is a moat competitors can't easily cross. But to win trust, Microsoft must pair technological leaps with clear, stable policies on content ownership, export, and retention. The August 18 shutdown is a chance for the company to demonstrate that clarity—or another reason for users to look elsewhere.