“Copilot is in a survival scramble”: I break down Microsoft’s chaotic AI strategy shift — and why I’m still trying to figure out where this all leads next

I knew I wasn't the only one who felt like Microsoft is slapping Copilot branding across too much of its tech stack. How many Copilot offerings exist in Microsoft's ecosystem? It's even more than you might think.

AI sleuth Tey Bannerman recently found 78 distinct products, features, and services named Copilot after combing through Microsoft’s documentation, marketing, and launch materials (via Tom's Hardware). Interestingly, Copilot says there are around 95 to 120+ Copilots.

The number has surged to at least 80 after Gaming Copilot and Microsoft Dragon Copilot joined the fold. "What happens when you name everything Copilot?" added Bannerman.

“Apps, features, platforms, a keyboard key, an entire category of laptops - and a tool for building more Copilots." Admittedly, it's quite taxing to try to stay on top with these tools, especially if there might be other products and services with similar branding in the pipeline.

Bannerman argues that most AI companies prefer renaming products over rebuilding them, since it’s faster. "Stamping 'AI' on what already exists will always feel more efficient than stepping back and asking what a genuinely transformed experience would look like."

Perhaps more interestingly, Microsoft was recently on the spot after Copilot's terms of use language went viral, suggesting that Copilot is meant for entertainment purposes only. However, the company dismissed the phrasing as legacy language from when Copilot originally launched as a search companion service in Bing.

"The Copilot metaphor is almost too perfect," indicated Bannerman. "A copilot is supposed to mean one trusted partner who helps you get where you're going. 78 of them in the cockpit with no flight plan is just turbulence."

Is Microsoft flying with too many Copilots?

You know what they say about too many cooks. Microsoft's AI strategy feels a bit all over the place right now, though it is getting its act together in Windows 11 by reducing where Copilot and AI experiences appear in the operating system.

As early as 2024, Microsoft Insiders were already complaining about the company's AI strategy: "There's a gap between the ambitious vision and what users are actually experiencing. Internally, we're calling it growing pains. We are building the plane as we fly it."

Interestingly, the report further claimed that Microsoft outsources support from third-party AI vendors to make its AI-powered apps work. A high-ranking Microsoft executive even indicated that most Copilot-themed products are gimmicky.

Another Microsoft employee corroborated the sentiments, indicating that the tool"works really darn well at sharing information that the customer doesn't want to share or didn't think it had made available to its employee, such as salary info." Perhaps more concerningly, the staffer indicated that it could potentially take years for Microsoft to fix this issue.

According to one Microsoft Insider, "There is a delusion on our marketing side where literally everything has been renamed to have Copilot in it. Everything is Copilot. Nothing else matters. They want a Copilot tie-in for everything."

Microsoft's complicated OpenAI partnership has seemingly made things worse, with some insiders suggesting that it has turned it into an overnight glorified IT department for the hot startup. That, and a former Microsoft executive claims that the partnership has contributed to the death of products like Azure Cognitive Search, Azure AI Bot Service, and Kinect DK.

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