Microsoft weighs DeepSeek for cheaper Copilot Cowork runs

Axios reported that Microsoft is shifting Copilot Cowork toward usage-based pricing after testing showed unlimited-use plans could produce very high model bills. Microsoft is exploring a fine-tuned DeepSeek V4 or another open-source model as a cheaper option alongside the Anthropic and OpenAI models currently powering the enterprise agentic tool. The story is important because it shows frontier-model pricing pressure reaching a major Microsoft product, while also raising geopolitical and enterprise-security questions around optional use of a Chinese-origin model hosted inside Azure.

Key details: Published June 16, 2026, Copilot Cowork is moving to usage-based pricing, Microsoft is exploring a fine-tuned DeepSeek V4 or another open-source model as a lower-cost option, Microsoft says any DeepSeek option would be optional and fully hosted on Azure.

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