Microsoft Copilot is a hot topic in the tech world right now, especially if you're a user of Microsoft products.
It feels like you can't click twice without a Copilot button being waved in your face in most of Microsoft's services. You can turn them off or uninstall them in many cases, but the rush to add Copilot AI services underpins Microsoft's oddly panicked and often incoherent strategy around the tech.
We write a lot about Copilot and AI in general, being on the Microsoft beat. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is reportedly forcing staff to adopt AI or face being pushed aside, as rumors of internal projections being cut create questions around the business. There is a general sense of negativity around AI if you look at social media, at least. LG and Microsoft came to a deal to incorporate Copilot in its TVs recently, but the ensuing backlash forced LG to give users an opt-out.
Microsoft's early investment in OpenAI has been hailed as one of the most forward-thinking in recent history, and gave Microsoft a commanding position over its leading AI models, powering ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. Google seems to be forging ahead, though, as the big competitors keep leapfrogging each other in performance benchmarks.
Either way, AI is and remains controversial ... but it's almost certainly here to stay. Which is why I want to hear from you: Are you actively using AI today?
Microsoft Copilot certainly has its uses. I use it personally almost daily for format shifting primarily. It's a useful tool for organizing large walls of text from a =TEXTJOIN() spreadsheet function and quickly turning it into something more readable without jumping through Excel hoops. It can be useful to recap information on the web too, as long as you double check the facts for hallucinations. Copilot in Azure and Github has found its audience in businesses of all shapes and sizes too. The ability to silo corporate information within Azure and maintain legal compliancy with data protection laws gives Copilot an edge for use in governmental, legal, and financial institutions for example.
It's also irritating at times too. Microsoft's "AI" features in Photos for example, barely work. Copilot is still prone to providing sycophantic, and often outright incorrect information. It's also monstrously expensive to maintain, with a business model whose long-term viability is often questioned. The tech is responsible for ballooning RAM prices, an increase in carbon emissions, and turbo-charging misinformation and spam bots.
I tend to use Microsoft Copilot partially because I write about Microsoft products and services, but it's hard to overlook how integrated some of the competing options are. In the past, Microsoft had a coherent ecosystem of products and services where Copilot might've made more sense, particularly where mobile is concerned. Since it's now effectively locked only to PC, I suspect many users are opting for services more prevalent, and crucially, more integrated on mobile, such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT. Even Samsung AI offers better tools than Copilot in a lot of cases, particularly with image and video editing.
Many analytics firms suggest that Copilot is actually one of the most heavily used out there, albeit far behind ChatGPT. But there's clearly some semantics to be discussed here, given that Copilot is, in itself, powered by ChatGPT.
I'm curious how you guys are using Microsoft Copilot, if indeed you are using it at all. And if you're not, which services are you using instead? Hit the comments, and let us know.
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