Microsoft Copilot Faces Uphill Battle Against ChatGPT

Microsoft is working hard to pull users toward Copilot, its AI chatbot. But it's facing some significant challenges. Despite Microsoft's heavy investment in AI technology and infrastructure, data from Sensor Tower shows the Copilot app has reached 79 million downloads—a small fraction of the 938 million downloads boasted by OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The Copilot lineup currently consists of three main products. Most people are familiar with the version tailored for consumers, which assists with daily tasks. Another iteration of Copilot is baked into Microsoft productivity tools such as Outlook and Word. Lastly, GitHub Copilot aims to help developers produce code.

At an all-hands meeting this spring, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emphasized that he wants to get hundreds of millions of people worldwide to use the Copilot family of AI apps. Even though Microsoft has added a slew of AI features to its main products over the last two years, however, the Copilot still has a smaller reach compared with ChatGPT and other competitors.

Data via Bloomberg.Credit: Devesh Beri

Part of the problem lies with Copilot's technical challenges. Users have reported bugs, missing features, and disappointing changes, like the loss of the Copilot default phone assistant option. Feedback also points out problems with memory, accuracy, broken links, and limited control over tasks like adjusting volume and opening apps, as reported by Bloomberg. This means many users see Copilot as nice to have, but not essential.

It doesn't help that Microsoft's Windows only gets a few major annual updates, slowing efforts to improve built-in software. Apple and Google are meanwhile adding their own AI features to their mobile operating systems, further limiting Copilot's reach.