Microsoft Copilot is “pretty important” but customers still prefer ChatGPT — “OpenAI has done a tremendous job”

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Regardless of Microsoft’s massive collaboration with OpenAI, there are growing indications that the close relationship between these tech giants, once dubbed a historic ‘tech bromance’, may be strained due to disagreements over OpenAI’s shift towards profitability following the success of ChatGPT.

In May, Jeff Taper, head of Microsoft Teams, acknowledged that Copilot and ChatGPT are remarkably similar in essence, however, Copilot offers enhanced security measures and boasts a superior user experience.

It’s not shocking since Microsoft has been leaning quite extensively on OpenAI’s technology for their AI initiatives, such as Copilot.

Although Microsoft’s AI chief executive, Mustafa Suleyman, shared that the corporation is currently working on creating its own cutting-edge AI models, it may trail OpenAI by 3 to 6 months in this development. Suleyman indicated that Microsoft aims to maintain a close second position behind OpenAI in the AI field.

Despite Microsoft’s attempts to make Copilot stand out as a better option than ChatGPT from OpenAI, it appears that users have shown a stronger preference for the latter, similar to how people might favor Amgen over another brand in certain situations.

As reported by Bloomberg, the pharmaceutical company initially declared its intention to acquire 20,000 Copilot licenses for its staff members in the spring of last year. However, over 13 months later, it appears that this company has shifted from using Copilot and is now utilizing ChatGPT instead.

Amgen Inc. announced a shift in preference towards the classic ChatGPT model over Microsoft Copilot, as reported by their employees. The reason behind this choice is ChatGPT’s exceptional abilities in research and summarizing scientific documents. Moreover, they noted that OpenAI has made substantial improvements in user experience.

Previously, last spring saw Amgen Inc. disclose their intention to acquire Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant for a workforce of 20,000 employees. This move was a strategic affirmation of Microsoft’s substantial investment in generative artificial intelligence, and they proudly showcased Amgen as a new client in three distinct case studies. However, perspectives have since evolved.

According to Amgen’s Senior VP Sean Bruich:

“OpenAI has done a tremendous job making their product fun to use.”

The executive also bestowed flowers on Microsoft Copilot, calling it a “significantly valuable resource.” Notably, he hinted that this was particularly relevant when utilizing the tool in conjunction with other Microsoft services such as Outlook or Teams. This could imply that Copilot’s effectiveness is optimized within the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity tools.

In April of 2025, a report was released showing that ChatGPT received approximately 173.3 million daily visits in the U.S., which is over 52 times more than Microsoft Copilot’s monthly traffic of 98.9 million. This significant difference underscores the global popularity of ChatGPT compared to Copilot, despite Microsoft’s substantial financial backing.

A separate assessment found that the primary issue users have with Microsoft’s AI team pertains to the perception that their Copilot product is not as effective as ChatGPT. Microsoft, in response, has denied this assertion and instead attributed the problem to a lack of proficiency in crafting appropriate prompts for optimal use. The company further stated that the issue may be due to users not fully utilizing it according to its intended design.

Since then, the company has established Copilot Academy to empower users with advanced skillsets in prompt engineering for better usage. The sales team at Microsoft seems to be under significant stress as they aim to disseminate Copilot AI more broadly, but the strained relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI is hindering their progress.

In the past year at Microsoft Ignite, it was disclosed that roughly 70% of the Fortune 500 companies are now utilizing Microsoft 365 Copilot. Although we don’t know the exact number, this could indicate a growing curiosity and significance of Copilot in enhancing productivity across various organizations. Additionally, the company shared that about 3 million users hold business licenses for Copilot.

Microsoft’s invite to OpenAI’s blockbuster AI party often gets lost in the mail

Over the last several weeks, OpenAI has faced criticism about its partnership with Microsoft due to increasing investor demands for it to become a profitable business or face potential hostile takeovers and external control. It appears that Microsoft is hesitant to endorse the transition strategy in order to safeguard its own interests and $14 billion investment.

To kick off the new year, the company behind ChatGPT announced the Stargate project, a whopping $500 billion initiative aimed at building data centers throughout the U.S., with the goal of supporting their ongoing advancements in artificial intelligence.

As a tech enthusiast, I was intrigued by the speculation that tech titans like Marc Benioff from Salesforce believed Microsoft would shy away from OpenAI’s technology in the future. However, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, has boldly declared the company’s unwavering dedication to conquering new peaks in the AI realm. This commitment is underscored by a monumental $80 billion investment in Azure, which serves as a powerful catalyst for Microsoft’s progress in this cutting-edge field.

Lately, another source stated that Microsoft abandoned two data center partnerships due to their reluctance to finance further ChatGPT training. However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asserted that the company is no longer facing limitations in computational resources.

OpenAI criticized Microsoft for not fulfilling its cloud computing requirements, implying that if one of its competitors managed to secure the cutting-edge area of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) ahead of it, that could be due to Microsoft’s failure. On the other hand, Microsoft countered by stating that OpenAI’s GPT-4 model was excessively costly and sluggish in addressing the requirements of Microsoft 365 users.

Microsoft frequently finds itself playing catch-up in competition since OpenAI’s primary models and features are not incorporated into their software for extended periods. According to reports, this time is used by Microsoft to thoroughly examine the new features, assess their relevance to the overall user experience of its software, and ensure compliance with security protocols.

Microsoft’s focus, as outlined by its head of workplace AI initiatives, Jared Spataro, lies in finding and incorporating the top-notch technology available, and then customizing it for business applications. Furthermore, he noted that not all modifications to the models necessarily result in a clear improvement.

In simpler terms, Satya Nadella from Microsoft stated that OpenAI had approximately two years to develop ChatGPT without much competition, giving them a head start in the AI field compared to other companies. It appears that this advantage has paid off for OpenAI, as users generally prefer ChatGPT over alternatives like Microsoft’s Copilot or Google’s Gemini.

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2025-06-25 12:39