Microsoft Copilot is tapping a key feature from Windows 11 Pro to enable Copilot’s AI to dig even further than it already has. It’s part of an update to Microsoft 365 Copilot called Researcher with Computer Use, debuting today for a limited subset of Microsoft 365 Copilot users.
LLMs that engage in deep research, like Copilot, face a problem: some content is locked away behind an authentication process, like requiring a password. Researcher with Computer Use is adding a “secure virtual computer” with a virtual browser, terminal, and a text interface that will trigger when needed and also provide a visual “chain of thought” that can show you what’s happening and if you need to step in.
All of this takes place within a “sandbox,” an optional virtual environment that has existed within Windows since the launch of Windows 10 Pro. Windows Sandbox is a powerful utility in Windows 10 and Windows 11 for surfing the web safely, since it creates a virtual OS within Windows that’s sealed off from your “main” Windows environment.
It’s a much more secure way of visiting dodgy sites on the web or opening untrusted files—once you close the sandbox, the OS and everything within it vanishes. But you can still open files within it and read their contents, which is where Researcher steps in.
Recently, Microsoft has also tip-toed into letting Copilot access a sandbox via Copilot Actions, an upcoming feature that would allow Copilot to take actions on the PC. In the near term, Microsoft also released a fall 2025 update for Copilot with long-term memory and integration into various services.
In this case, Researcher with Computer Use isn’t designed for dodging malware, although that’s one benefit of it. The created sandbox is primarily designed as a test bed for code that Copilot creates, so it doesn’t put your machine at risk. The virtual browser can be used by Researcher to navigate the web and perform actions, Microsoft notes in a blog post, while the terminal interface is used for command-line-based code execution.
“Deep research” LLMs typically come up with a plan, then execute it while keeping you abreast of what they’re doing and what’s going on. Researcher with Computer Use does this visually, snapping screenshots of the virtual sandbox as it works. While you can take over whenever you want, it’s also useful for when Researcher runs into roadblocks and needs a username and password to proceed further. That takes place via a “secure screen-sharing connection,” Microsoft says.
Microsoft
Microsoft says that users at any given organization won’t have access to internal or proprietary information by default, though users and IT admins can choose to turn that on. The sources of data that Researcher sifts through can also be managed.
“The user sees the actions of Researcher while it is accessing the web through the browser or using any computer use tools,” Microsoft added. “Researcher will always ask for explicit confirmation before taking any actions or request the user securely log in to any web sources in the browser when required to complete a task.”
On BrowseComp—a benchmark focused on complex, multi-step browsing tasks—Researcher with Computer Use performed 44 percent better than the current version of Researcher, Microsoft said.
