Microsoft replaces Meeting Insights with Copilot, but at what cost?

Microsoft replaces Meeting Insights with Copilot, but at what cost?

Microsoft will discontinue Meeting Insights in Outlook by mid-August. This built-in feature will be replaced by a more comprehensive experience, but it will only be available to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Microsoft is removing a feature from Outlook and replacing it with Copilot, but users will have to pay extra.

Microsoft continues to integrate Copilot into Outlook, even if it means leaving some users behind. Meeting Insights, which displayed related files and emails in meeting invitations, will gradually disappear between mid-August and early September 2026. To find comparable assistance, users will now have to rely on a feature powered by generative AI.

Meeting Insights is in its final weeks

Enabled by default, Meeting Insights was designed to help prepare for a meeting by surfacing recently modified documents and communications that might be relevant to its context within the invitation. The goal was to quickly locate useful items without having to sift through emails or Microsoft 365 files.

These suggestions were only visible to the person viewing the invitation and were not shared with other participants. The feature was limited to surfacing this content and did not rely on a large language model. It also did not require an additional Copilot license.

The removal of the feature will affect:

• Outlook on the web
• The new Outlook for Windows
• Outlook for Mac
• Outlook mobile
• Microsoft Teams

Classic Outlook is not included in the list provided by Microsoft.

Copilot takes over, for an additional license

Microsoft is now directing users to “Prepare for this meeting,” an experience powered by its AI assistant. Unlike Meeting Insights, it does not merely select potentially useful files and emails but analyzes their content to summarize the context of the meeting, highlight key topics, and suggest actions to take.

This evolution thus brings more advanced functions, but it also changes the access conditions. “Prepare for this meeting” will only be available to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, which is offered separately in addition to an eligible subscription.

In this way, Microsoft is making Copilot a necessary step to retain this type of integrated assistance for meeting preparation. This strategy may displease companies that do not wish to or cannot purchase additional licenses for their employees, who will be deprived of a feature that was previously included in Outlook without an equivalent alternative.