Microsoft has found a new way to get users excited about Copilot: pushing the AI assistant unsolicited and raising the subscription price.
Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in Copilot and wants those investments to pay off. That will only succeed if people actually use the AI assistant. Using Copilot need not be voluntary, Microsoft believes. In some countries, Copilot has been added unsolicited to personal 365 subscriptions.
That includes some Asian countries and Australia, writes the Wall Street Journal. The 365 bundle for private users now includes Copilot by default, even if users have not subscribed to it. As icing on the cake, the price of their subscription has been increased: in Australia, it amounts to a price increase of five Australian dollars per month, which in Europe would be about three euros. The offer is take it or leave it.
The spirit of Clippy
The forced addition of Copilot now mostly generates frustration among users. Copilot reportedly behaves intrusively, asking at every email or line in Word if it can be of service. Comparisons to Copilot’s illustrious predecessor Clippy are quickly made.
The Wall Street Journal polled Microsoft about whether it will adopt this strategy in other markets, but the software giant did not respond. Microsoft has a habit of pushing its products rather aggressively if adoption is too slow to the company’s liking. Microsoft 365’s new (confusing) logo hints at deeper integration of Copilot. In Europe, however, Microsoft will not be able to do this easily: the EU required Microsoft to decouple Teams from the 365 bundle.
A Copilot for everyone
Private users are a large target market for Copilot, but Microsoft hopes to win over primarily the business clientele. Copilot is available to them as a $22 paid addition to their subscription. An equally contrived Copilot key on the keyboard of new business laptop models should ensure that every user gets to the right version of Copilot.
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Microsoft adds Copilot to 365 subscription unsolicited (and raises price)
Behind the scenes, there is busy tinkering with Copilot. The AI assistant is built on models from OpenAI, but Microsoft wants to change that. OpenAI is both partner and competitor at the same time, and Copilot is struggling to compete against ChatGPT. Microsoft also wants to build Copilot on its own models or even those of other third parties to rely less on OpenAI.