Microsoft AI Updates: June 27, 2026

1. Copilot in Excel Adds Finance Skills and Data Connectors

Microsoft introduced new Copilot in Excel capabilities aimed at finance professionals across FP&A, accounting, tax, compliance, and treasury roles. The update adds customizable Skills that guide Copilot through repeatable workflows such as building a DCF model or preparing a variance analysis, financial data connectors for sources including FactSet, Morningstar, PitchBook, and S&P Global, and traceability features that let users plan changes before execution and review every Copilot edit. The aim is to let teams scale established financial processes across workbooks while keeping changes auditable. Source

2. Microsoft Research Unveils Generative Causal Testing for Brain Models

Microsoft Research, working with UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Columbia University, described Generative Causal Testing, a framework that turns opaque AI language models of brain activity into testable scientific explanations. The method first summarizes which phrases drive a brain region’s response into plain descriptions, then generates new stories that subjects read in an fMRI scanner to confirm the predicted neural response. The approach surfaced previously unidentified prefrontal micro-regions tuned to specific concepts, showing how generative models can produce experimentally verifiable hypotheses rather than black-box predictions. Source