Microsoft will widen the availability of its artificial intelligence-powered tool for cybersecurity professionals from April 1 and adopt a 'pay-as-you-go' strategy for the assistant, the company said on Wednesday.

Soft-launched last year, 'Security Copilot' lets analysts run queries through a simple prompt box to help with tasks like summarizing incidents, analyzing vulnerabilities and sharing information with co-workers on a pinboard.

Roughly 300 customers are currently using the tool, a Microsoft official said at an event in San Francisco.

The tech giant plans to charge customers for how much they use the product rather than on a subscription basis, as it "wanted to reduce the barriers of entry," Microsoft Corporate Vice President Vasu Jakkal told reporters.

  - Reuters