> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Microsoft puts Claude inside Copilot — and Australian offices get a choice - URL: https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/news-microsoft-copilot-wave-3-claude-australia-2026/ - Published: 2026-03-10T23:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T05:26:17.000Z - Description: Wave 3 turns Copilot from a sidebar into a collaborator — and for the first time, the model doing the work doesn't have to be OpenAI's. - Author: Adam - Tags: News, Microsoft Copilot, Productivity & Workflow, Australia, #news **Posted:** 11 March 2026 · **Category:** Productivity & Workflow --- On 9 March Microsoft announced **Wave 3 of Microsoft 365 Copilot**, and one line in it matters more for Australian businesses than all the rest: **Claude is now available as a model choice inside Copilot, alongside OpenAI's latest models.** ## What changed Wave 3 repositions Copilot from an assistant in the sidebar to what Microsoft calls a true collaborator inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook — drafting, revising, and working across documents rather than answering prompts about them. It also introduces **Copilot Cowork**, a mode where Copilot takes on multi-step pieces of work and runs them through autonomously. The structural news is the model choice. Until now, Copilot meant OpenAI models — full stop. From Wave 3, organisations can run Anthropic's Claude inside the same Microsoft 365 surface. It's the first time a major productivity suite has offered Australian users a multi-vendor AI option in the tools they already pay for. ## What it means for Australians Most Australian offices run on Microsoft 365, which has made Copilot the default AI decision rather than a considered one. Model choice changes the calculus in two ways. First, teams that prefer Claude's writing and reasoning no longer have to leave the suite — or buy a second subscription — to get it. Second, it puts genuine competitive pressure inside the one product Australian IT departments have already approved, which historically is where pricing and quality discipline comes from. Cowork is the one to trial carefully. Autonomous multi-step work inside your live documents and inbox is as risky as it is useful — start it on low-stakes work first. ## What we're watching Whether model choice reaches every plan tier in Australia or stays an enterprise privilege, and what Cowork's limits look like in practice. We'll weigh both when we put Microsoft 365 Copilot through our full review framework. ## Sources - Microsoft 365 blog — Powering frontier transformation with Copilot and agents (9 March 2026): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2026/03/09/powering-frontier-transformation-with-copilot-and-agents/ (primary) \[Wayback snapshot TBC\] --- *The AI Directory Australia is independent. We review and score AI tools for Australian users — AUD pricing, AU availability, data residency, GST. We don't write ads; affiliate links are disclosed and sponsored content is labelled. Edited by Adam.*