Microsoft puts 33-year-old Jacob Andreou in charge of Copilot reset

Microsoft has handed one of its most important AI jobs to Jacob Andreou, a 33-year-old executive now responsible for reshaping Copilot. The move matters because Copilot is central to Microsoft’s AI push at a time when Fortune reports the company is under pressure from OpenAI, Anthropic and other fast-moving rivals.

Andreou was promoted in March by Chief Executive Satya Nadella to executive vice president for Copilot after about a year at Microsoft, Fortune reported. The appointment put him in charge of a product that Microsoft has placed at the center of its software strategy for consumers and large companies.

Fortune reported that Andreou now oversees more than 11,000 people and has moved to combine Copilot’s consumer and enterprise teams. He has also cut back overlapping versions of the assistant and pushed changes to how Microsoft charges for some AI features, including usage-based billing for Copilot Cowork, its autonomous agent platform.

The job comes with clear commercial pressure. Fortune, citing The Wall Street Journal, reported that about 4.5% of Microsoft 365’s 450 million customers pay for Copilot features. Fortune also reported that Microsoft’s shares have fallen by double digits over the past year as investors question AI’s effect on software revenue, Microsoft’s dependence on OpenAI and the cost of data center expansion.

Andreou told Fortune that the current moment in technology requires speed and focus, and said product road maps no longer work the way they did when AI systems are changing so quickly. Microsoft has tried to show progress: Nadella said on X this month that England’s National Health Service was rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot to more than 500,000 staff.

Fortune described Andreou as unusually hands-on for a senior executive. Earlier this year, he and his team tested Copilot Tasks by having the AI tool order a McDonald’s cheeseburger to his apartment near Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus; Fortune reported the order arrived by the time he got home.

The pace has drawn both praise and concern inside Microsoft, according to Fortune. Employees told the magazine that Andreou’s technical fluency and product focus have earned respect, while current and former employees said some teams face 12-hour days, burnout and anxiety about keeping up with competitors.

Andreou said teams building top AI products sometimes need to surge, but also need sustainable work patterns, Fortune reported. He said that can include intense work from Monday through Thursday followed by time on Friday for home responsibilities.

Andreou joined Microsoft in 2025 after working as a partner at Greylock, where Fortune reported he focused on consumer AI companies. Before that, he spent years at Snap, rising from design engineer in 2015 to vice president of product in 2018, where he worked on growth, design, data science and advertising strategy.

Microsoft’s broader AI structure is also changing. Fortune reported that Nadella consolidated Copilot teams earlier this year, moved Mustafa Suleyman toward work on proprietary AI models and has become more involved in product development across the company.

Andreou told Fortune his main goals are to improve AI chat, deliver strong model quality without missing the market and offer companies a safe, compliant way to use multiple AI models. He also said companies need to protect their own data and culture as external AI systems become more capable.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.