Microsoft's Copilot Cowork Now Asks for Your Permission Before Taking Sensitive Actions

Microsoft is giving users more control over Copilot Cowork, its AI-powered feature for personal accounts that can carry out tasks on a user’s behalf. The new preview controls require Copilot to ask for permission before performing certain actions, including creating files and sending content.

Copilot Cowork won’t take certain actions without your approval

When Cowork reaches an action that requires approval, it will display a preview showing what it plans to do. Users can then select a specific approval button such as Send, Post or Create, or choose Cancel to stop the action. Microsoft says users can also pause Cowork while it is working, either after the current step finishes or immediately. The task can then be resumed later or cancelled completely.

The approval system covers actions that could have a meaningful effect outside the Copilot session. That includes purchases and payments, submitting personal information to websites, sending emails or messages, deleting files, changing cloud storage, cancelling subscriptions and modifying account settings.

Copilot may also hand control back to the user when a website blocks automated interaction or requires additional sign-in or manual steps. This can include purchases, bookings and accessing protected content.

Microsoft is also warning users to review approval prompts carefully because Copilot can make mistakes or misunderstand instructions. For scheduled or recurring tasks, users may be asked to provide the necessary approvals during setup so Cowork can operate without someone watching every step.

Microsoft is putting more guardrails around Cowork

The changes are part of Microsoft’s broader effort to make autonomous AI tools useful without allowing them to freely perform sensitive actions. Cowork can already work with files, and users can review files created or modified during a task through the side panel.

The feature remains in Preview for personal accounts, so Microsoft could change how these controls work before a wider release. As AI agents take on more tasks instead of simply answering questions, the ability to review and approve actions could become just as important as the AI’s ability to complete them.