Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to assert itself as a titan in artificial intelligence have entered an awkward phase, as the company faces mounting criticism for the performance and popularity gap between its Copilot AI assistant and OpenAI’s now-ubiquitous ChatGPT. For a firm that has invested tens of billions of dollars in OpenAI, this rivalry—tinged with internal irony and public optics—is proving both strategic and deeply uncomfortable.
Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI is unprecedented in tech industry history. On one hand, it is the single largest backer of the research laboratory-turned-commercial juggernaut behind ChatGPT. On the other, Microsoft is directly licensing and implementing OpenAI’s technology into its own products, most notably in the form of Windows Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Beneath the surface of this multi-billion dollar partnership, however, are the telltale rumblings of competitive tension. Microsoft’s sprawling suite of business tools demands stable, enterprise-ready AI, while OpenAI operates with Silicon Valley agility—continually updating, experimenting, and iterating on ChatGPT at scale. What sounds like harmonious collaboration in press releases often translates, in practice, to a lopsided race: ChatGPT sprints ahead, Copilot chases cautiously behind.
Take Amgen, an international pharmaceutical company known for digital innovation. Amgen purchased Copilot licenses for some 20,000 employees, only to watch internal adoption stall. Staff overwhelmingly preferred using ChatGPT for everyday tasks such as research and document summarization, defaulting to Copilot only when forced by integration with tools like Outlook and Teams. “OpenAI has done a tremendous job making their product fun to use,” admitted John Bruich, Amgen’s senior vice president.
Similar stories abound elsewhere. New York Life Insurance purchased both Copilot and ChatGPT access for its employees, letting them gravitate naturally toward the superior product. At Bain & Company, the numbers are stark: ChatGPT is used regularly by some 16,000 employees, while just 2,000 consistently use Copilot, predominantly as a supplementary add-in for Excel and other Microsoft applications. According to Bain chief technology officer Ramesh Razdan, Copilot “is improving,” but he concedes, “I don’t think it’s at the same level.”
The network effect of being first—especially with a tool as broadly useful as a general-purpose AI assistant—cannot be overstated. Early adopters not only became comfortable with ChatGPT’s quirks and capabilities but also shared their experiences across social media and internal corporate channels, cementing its status as the default choice.
OpenAI, in contrast, absorbs user feedback and rapidly incorporates new features, model improvements, and UX tweaks, often in near real-time for millions of users worldwide. This dynamic model allows ChatGPT to capitalize on the bleeding edge of AI R&D, while Copilot must navigate Microsoft’s sprawling internal review pipelines.
Microsoft’s Copilot, by contrast, is seen as more utilitarian—less “fun” and more confined to bolted-on roles within Outlook, Teams, and Excel. When freed from platform lock-in, users show an unambiguous preference for ChatGPT.
Copilot’s most compelling feature—its deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem—can also feel restrictive, keeping users tethered to the Microsoft stack. While this may be attractive for IT governance and compliance, it limits the kind of experimentation and workflow re-engineering that many users crave. In contrast, ChatGPT can be run in-browser, on mobile, and integrated into virtually any tool with an API.
Crucially, Microsoft is betting that as AI adoption becomes universal, most businesses will prioritize safety and IT control over pure novelty. Every AI tool that touches sensitive enterprise data must abide by regulatory constraints (GDPR, HIPAA, and others), secure internal APIs, and present robust audit trails. In this arena, Copilot’s deliberate pace and enterprise-first design present strong selling points.
Nevertheless, the brand and technical halo surrounding ChatGPT remains potent. For individual power users and teams outside the strictest compliance bubbles, its mix of “bleeding edge” research and developer accessibility continues to win hearts and minds.
If OpenAI continues to iterate at a pace that Microsoft cannot match, and enterprise customers judge that any security or compliance risks around ChatGPT are manageable, Copilot could lose its reason to exist except as a compliance-mandated add-in.
Should the partnership deteriorate, Microsoft may find itself having heavily invested in proprietary integration paths for a product it no longer has privileged access to, potentially leading to costly re-engineering or even the need to shift to open-source AI models.
Conversely, OpenAI’s “move fast and break things” mentality, which resonates with many users today, could become a liability if a high-profile AI incident triggers new rounds of legislative or consumer backlash.
OpenAI, for its part, has built a global brand synonymous with “AI assistant”—a rare feat in an industry defined by fleeting novelty. It continues to push the boundaries of natural language processing, multimodal learning, and conversational computing, evolving faster than many competitors anticipated.
In practice, many enterprises will hedge, deploying ChatGPT for early-stage experimentation and “creative” use cases, while keeping Copilot as an approved, auditable, and administratively controlled layer for core workflows. The distinction may blur as both products evolve and, perhaps, as OpenAI bakes more enterprise features into its core offerings.
For business customers weighing these platforms, the best path may well be a hybrid approach: leverage ChatGPT’s dynamism for rapid ideation and creative tasks, while reserving Copilot for integrated, compliant, and auditable interactions within the Microsoft suite. As AI technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed, adaptability and openness to new workflows will be essential—both for vendors and their customers.
Amidst these tensions, one fact is clear: the competition between Microsoft’s Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT is not just about features, response times, or brand loyalty. It is a bellwether for a future in which the boundaries between platforms, partners, and rivals grow ever more fluid—and where the real winners will be those who adapt fastest, listen to users most closely, and never stop improving their product in the face of relentless change.
Source: Futurism Microsoft Is Having an Incredibly Embarrassing Problem With Its AI
Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI is unprecedented in tech industry history. On one hand, it is the single largest backer of the research laboratory-turned-commercial juggernaut behind ChatGPT. On the other, Microsoft is directly licensing and implementing OpenAI’s technology into its own products, most notably in the form of Windows Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365.Beneath the surface of this multi-billion dollar partnership, however, are the telltale rumblings of competitive tension. Microsoft’s sprawling suite of business tools demands stable, enterprise-ready AI, while OpenAI operates with Silicon Valley agility—continually updating, experimenting, and iterating on ChatGPT at scale. What sounds like harmonious collaboration in press releases often translates, in practice, to a lopsided race: ChatGPT sprints ahead, Copilot chases cautiously behind.
The Customer Experience Gap: Inside the Enterprise
Perhaps nowhere is this competition more evident than among Microsoft’s own customers. According to recent interviews reported by Bloomberg and summarized by Futurism, enterprise IT leaders are openly pitting Copilot against ChatGPT. The results are often less than flattering for Microsoft.Take Amgen, an international pharmaceutical company known for digital innovation. Amgen purchased Copilot licenses for some 20,000 employees, only to watch internal adoption stall. Staff overwhelmingly preferred using ChatGPT for everyday tasks such as research and document summarization, defaulting to Copilot only when forced by integration with tools like Outlook and Teams. “OpenAI has done a tremendous job making their product fun to use,” admitted John Bruich, Amgen’s senior vice president.
Similar stories abound elsewhere. New York Life Insurance purchased both Copilot and ChatGPT access for its employees, letting them gravitate naturally toward the superior product. At Bain & Company, the numbers are stark: ChatGPT is used regularly by some 16,000 employees, while just 2,000 consistently use Copilot, predominantly as a supplementary add-in for Excel and other Microsoft applications. According to Bain chief technology officer Ramesh Razdan, Copilot “is improving,” but he concedes, “I don’t think it’s at the same level.”
Why the Disparity? Strengths and Weaknesses in AI Design
What is causing this pattern, in which the company that effectively funded and productized OpenAI’s research now finds itself trailing in the race to workplace relevance?1. Launch Timing and Network Effect
Timing is a key factor. ChatGPT’s public release in late 2022 unleashed an explosion of adoption and experimentation among both the general public and professionals. In contrast, Copilot didn’t debut for Microsoft 365 customers until November 2023—a full year later. By then, the “AI habit” was already built around ChatGPT for countless knowledge workers.The network effect of being first—especially with a tool as broadly useful as a general-purpose AI assistant—cannot be overstated. Early adopters not only became comfortable with ChatGPT’s quirks and capabilities but also shared their experiences across social media and internal corporate channels, cementing its status as the default choice.
2. Product Philosophy: Caution vs. Speed
According to Microsoft’s Jared Spataro, the company insists on thoroughly testing every OpenAI update before integrating it into Copilot. “Not every change that is being made to the models actually is net positive,” Spataro told Bloomberg. What sounds, on its face, like a responsible enterprise approach—prioritizing security, reproducibility, and regulatory compliance—can also make Copilot feel outdated compared to the nimbleness of ChatGPT.OpenAI, in contrast, absorbs user feedback and rapidly incorporates new features, model improvements, and UX tweaks, often in near real-time for millions of users worldwide. This dynamic model allows ChatGPT to capitalize on the bleeding edge of AI R&D, while Copilot must navigate Microsoft’s sprawling internal review pipelines.
3. User Experience and Engagement
Enterprise feedback consistently identifies user experience as a differentiator. Employees at Amgen and Bain & Company sound a common theme: ChatGPT is simply “more enjoyable” and engaging to use than Copilot. This may be due in part to the conversational format, the speed and breadth of responses, or OpenAI’s continual focus on “delight” as a UX north star.Microsoft’s Copilot, by contrast, is seen as more utilitarian—less “fun” and more confined to bolted-on roles within Outlook, Teams, and Excel. When freed from platform lock-in, users show an unambiguous preference for ChatGPT.
4. Access, Cost, and Ecosystem Lock-in
A core irony underpins the narrative: ChatGPT, even in its most robust free incarnation, matches or surpasses the utility of Copilot, which customers must often purchase as an enterprise add-on to Microsoft 365.Copilot’s most compelling feature—its deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem—can also feel restrictive, keeping users tethered to the Microsoft stack. While this may be attractive for IT governance and compliance, it limits the kind of experimentation and workflow re-engineering that many users crave. In contrast, ChatGPT can be run in-browser, on mobile, and integrated into virtually any tool with an API.
Assessing Microsoft’s Strategic Response
Microsoft is hardly blind to these criticisms. The company has rapidly iterated on Copilot since launch and continues to roll out frequent updates. New features include expanded support for third-party plugins, more flexible deployment options, and improved capabilities for document analysis, coding, and workflow automation. For organizations already invested in the Microsoft cloud ecosystem, Copilot’s appeal remains undeniable: security, compliance, and data residency are all handled within a familiar administrative context.Crucially, Microsoft is betting that as AI adoption becomes universal, most businesses will prioritize safety and IT control over pure novelty. Every AI tool that touches sensitive enterprise data must abide by regulatory constraints (GDPR, HIPAA, and others), secure internal APIs, and present robust audit trails. In this arena, Copilot’s deliberate pace and enterprise-first design present strong selling points.
Nevertheless, the brand and technical halo surrounding ChatGPT remains potent. For individual power users and teams outside the strictest compliance bubbles, its mix of “bleeding edge” research and developer accessibility continues to win hearts and minds.
Risks and Challenges Facing Both Companies
The tension between Microsoft and OpenAI is not limited to marketing headaches and minor feature disparities. Beneath the surface lie potential risks that could reshape the entire landscape of AI adoption in business.Brand Confusion and Cannibalization
For now, ChatGPT and Copilot often appear to solve the same problems with overlapping technology, leading to brand confusion. Customers regularly ask whether they need both, whether one will obsolete the other, or if they might ultimately be billed twice for the same AI outputs. This scenario complicates renewal cycles for Microsoft sales teams and could further erode Copilot’s market share if not strategically addressed.Update Lag and Technical Debt
With every cycle in which OpenAI releases a transformative update—such as multimodal capabilities, advanced code interpretation, or personalized AI agents—Microsoft must review, validate, and prepare those changes for Copilot integration. This lag risks leaving Copilot users a generation behind, amplifying perceptions of inferiority.If OpenAI continues to iterate at a pace that Microsoft cannot match, and enterprise customers judge that any security or compliance risks around ChatGPT are manageable, Copilot could lose its reason to exist except as a compliance-mandated add-in.
Strategic Divergence and the Future of the Partnership
Though the Microsoft–OpenAI alliance has, to date, been economically symbiotic, the power dynamic could rapidly shift if OpenAI decides to further commercialize its products independently, cut new deals with other tech giants, or move further upstream into the SaaS stack.Should the partnership deteriorate, Microsoft may find itself having heavily invested in proprietary integration paths for a product it no longer has privileged access to, potentially leading to costly re-engineering or even the need to shift to open-source AI models.
Regulatory and Ethical Concerns
Both companies face mounting regulatory scrutiny, particularly in Europe and North America, around AI data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the risk of accidental data leaks or harmful outputs. Microsoft’s rigorously tested, enterprise-grade AI deployment may eventually be its strongest card—a scenario that becomes increasingly likely as governments begin to police AI with greater intensity.Conversely, OpenAI’s “move fast and break things” mentality, which resonates with many users today, could become a liability if a high-profile AI incident triggers new rounds of legislative or consumer backlash.
The Path Forward: Is There Room for Both?
Despite recent embarrassments, Microsoft retains formidable assets in this race. Its enterprise reach, ability to integrate AI across the Windows and Office ecosystem, and track record of compliance and data stewardship make it an attractive AI delivery partner for risk-averse organizations. Moreover, the company is already signaling that Copilot will be a centerpiece in upcoming Windows and cloud updates, with tighter integration, lower latency, and broader plugin ecosystems planned.OpenAI, for its part, has built a global brand synonymous with “AI assistant”—a rare feat in an industry defined by fleeting novelty. It continues to push the boundaries of natural language processing, multimodal learning, and conversational computing, evolving faster than many competitors anticipated.
In practice, many enterprises will hedge, deploying ChatGPT for early-stage experimentation and “creative” use cases, while keeping Copilot as an approved, auditable, and administratively controlled layer for core workflows. The distinction may blur as both products evolve and, perhaps, as OpenAI bakes more enterprise features into its core offerings.
Critical Analysis: Lessons for the AI Industry
The Microsoft-OpenAI saga holds profound lessons for companies seeking to harness artificial intelligence at scale.- Early market entry matters. OpenAI’s first-mover advantage with ChatGPT won over millions of users before enterprise alternatives appeared.
- User delight and rapid iteration are king. Products that feel dynamic and engaging will outcompete those that seem sluggish or bolted onto legacy software, especially in the initial wave of AI adoption.
- Enterprise IT priorities re-assert themselves over time. Security, compliance, and data governance become non-negotiable as experimental AI moves from the lab into mission-critical business processes.
- Partnerships with intertwined incentives can become zero-sum competitions. Even the closest alliances are vulnerable to shifting power dynamics as priorities diverge over time.
- Brand clarity is essential when marketing overlapping products born from shared technology. Clear value propositions prevent internal cannibalization and customer confusion.
Conclusion: An Unfinished Race
Microsoft may be experiencing a highly public “embarrassment” in its effort to capture the AI zeitgeist, but the outcome is not predetermined. The Copilot vs. ChatGPT contest is a microcosm of the broader AI platform war—one in which user trust, speed of iteration, and enterprise readiness will ultimately determine the winners.For business customers weighing these platforms, the best path may well be a hybrid approach: leverage ChatGPT’s dynamism for rapid ideation and creative tasks, while reserving Copilot for integrated, compliant, and auditable interactions within the Microsoft suite. As AI technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed, adaptability and openness to new workflows will be essential—both for vendors and their customers.
Amidst these tensions, one fact is clear: the competition between Microsoft’s Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT is not just about features, response times, or brand loyalty. It is a bellwether for a future in which the boundaries between platforms, partners, and rivals grow ever more fluid—and where the real winners will be those who adapt fastest, listen to users most closely, and never stop improving their product in the face of relentless change.
Source: Futurism Microsoft Is Having an Incredibly Embarrassing Problem With Its AI