Excel

In 2026, Excel coverage has centered on AI agents and model competition inside Microsoft 365, from Copilot’s default agentic features to Anthropic add-ins and Microsoft’s MAI shift.

Who they are

Excel is Microsoft’s spreadsheet product and a recurring anchor for broader Microsoft 365 stories, typically appearing alongside Word, PowerPoint and Outlook as Microsoft extends productivity features across its application suite. Its more recent role in coverage is as a working surface for AI-assisted finance, analysis and document workflows.

The recent arc

Recent coverage has shifted decisively from packaging and subscription distribution toward AI embedded in spreadsheet work. Microsoft’s 2023 Microsoft 365 Copilot announcement positioned GPT-4 for Excel and other Office apps, and the 2024 public preview of Copilot for Finance specifically highlighted reconciling data in Excel. Microsoft also quietly introduced free, ad-supported Windows desktop versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint in February 2025, showing that access and monetization remained part of the product story.

The tension

The central tension is control of the AI layer inside Microsoft’s productivity ecosystem. Microsoft has made Copilot’s agentic features in Word, Excel and PowerPoint generally available and enabled by default, while Anthropic has expanded Claude for Excel and PowerPoint through Microsoft 365 add-ins with cross-file context and skills. Bloomberg’s July 2026 reporting that Microsoft is beginning to replace OpenAI and Anthropic models with MAI models in Excel and Outlook, reportedly to reduce AI costs, turns Excel into a venue for model-provider competition as well as end-user automation.

Why it matters

If this trajectory holds, Excel may become less a standalone calculation tool and more a governed interface for agents that interpret data, act across files and connect spreadsheet work to wider Microsoft 365 workflows. The open question is whether Microsoft’s own MAI-model push will consolidate that experience around Copilot or whether integrations such as Anthropic’s Claude add-ins preserve a more plural AI layer for enterprise users.

Related: Microsoft · Office · OpenAI · Anthropic · Microsoft announces Microsoft 365 Copilot, which will bring OpenAI's G · Microsoft launches Copilot for Finance in public preview, helping user