“Microsoft Struggles to Sell Copilot”

Microsoft Copilot is not selling as Redmond hoped. A new analysis shows that OpenAI can convert ChatGPT’s popularity into (business) subscriptions.

Microsoft is facing stiff competition from OpenAI. The company, despite being backed by Microsoft, is winning more hearts with ChatGPT than Microsoft with Copilot. Although Microsoft is almost forcefully trying to shove Copilot down the throats of business and regular users, this does not translate into dominance.

In April, it already appeared that Copilot was struggling to recruit new active users. Now, Bloomberg confirms in a new analysis that competition from ChatGPT is indeed hampering Microsoft’s AI offering.

Large Companies are not Convinced

Bloomberg looks at several large companies for this conclusion. For example, pharmaceutical specialist Amgen equipped 20,000 employees with Copilot last spring. A year later, Copilot hasn’t disappeared, but it has taken a background role. Copilot mainly serves within the Office environment, while Amgen has embraced ChatGPT for more general capabilities.

Gartner notes that pilot projects with Copilot remain relatively small. Microsoft has not yet claimed the market, leaving room for competitors. For many people, ChatGPT is synonymous with OpenAI, and this familiarity leads to greater enthusiasm.

Both Copilot and ChatGPT can automate tasks, serve as writing aids, and analyze data and reports. Functionally, they are similar, and Copilot uses the same technology as ChatGPT. Microsoft claims it puts more effort into integrating AI at a business level, but in practice, it lags behind OpenAI’s innovations. These innovations come first to ChatGPT and trickle down more slowly to Copilot. Therefore, those who want the latest and greatest choose ChatGPT.

Bloomberg also spoke with several other companies, including Finastra Group Holdings. That company had to actively encourage employees to give Copilot a chance. Another American company, New York Life Insurance Co, is testing both tools side by side with 12,000 people. They will make a choice based on an evaluation of that test. The chance that ChatGPT will prove more popular is real.

Integration as a Path to Success?

At the moment, Microsoft’s fixed strategy is not yet bearing fruit, but that may still come. Just like with Teams, Microsoft is trying to use its monopoly position to get Copilot everywhere. Although Copilot is not free (unlike Teams at the time), Microsoft does offer close integrations with the Office suite and already has a presence in many companies worldwide.

Whether that’s enough is not certain. For example, consulting giant Bain has a good customer relationship with Microsoft, but has rolled out ChatGPT to 16,000 users. Copilot is also present in the workplace, but only for 2,000 profiles and mostly in the context of Office support.

Bloomberg concludes that employees simply don’t warm up to Copilot, and certainly not compared to ChatGPT. This shows to some extent that Microsoft’s aggressive marketing tactics with Copilot are not working. Although the company puts Copilot everywhere, and even renamed Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 Copilot without being asked, it’s mainly ChatGPT that continues to capture users’ imagination.