Microsoft Corp. is merging the consumer and workplace versions of its Copilot AI assistant into one product aimed at corporate customers, ceding the crowded market for personal chatbots to OpenAI, Google and Meta Platforms Inc.

At an event in Seattle, executives previewed the new Copilot, the result of a six-month engineering effort. The latest iteration has absorbed the separate version for home use, adopting some of its slick design features. Jacob Andreou, who leads product development of the unified Copilot app, said importing consumer features "made Copilot so much better in just the last few months."

The updated software gives users the ability to edit Word or Excel documents within a Copilot app, addressing a common gripe. Microsoft's Scout, an always-on assistant, is also joining the Copilot package, rebranded as Autopilot. The new Copilot brings to a close one of Microsoft's biggest bets of the AI era.

Microsoft's retreat coincides with the arrival of Meta's Muse, a personal assistant that has raced to the top of app download charts. "We're not going to build a Copilot that's like your personal companion," executive Charles Lamanna said. "We help you get stuff done."