80 Copilots later, Microsoft is finally confronting the mess
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Microsoft has deployed the Copilot brand across 80 different instances throughout its ecosystem, creating significant user confusion and fragmentation.
- PCWorld reports that Microsoft plans to simplify Windows 11 by refocusing its Copilot AI strategy after recognizing the complexity issues.
- The company’s approach of embedding specialized Copilots in various apps rather than maintaining a unified experience has led to a fragmented user experience across its productivity suite.
Microsoft has said previously that it plans to simplify and refocus Windows 11, acknowledging that it tried to inject its Copilot AI pretty much everywhere. And you know what? That’s almost literally true.
In a viral post, researcher Tey Bannerman found a whopping 80 instances of the Copilot brand name within Microsoft’s apps and services. Eighty! And the post has a nifty little interactive graphic that you can explore and play with, if you want to see them all.
The irony is inescapable. Microsoft has created an AI platform intended to make us more productive, but in doing so, it’s created dizzying layers of fragmentation that might trigger confusion in the strongest of us.
Some examples of the Copilot layers Bannerman found:
- Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service
- Copilot in Viva Glint
- GitHub Copilot Workspace
- Copilot in Microsoft Fabric
And so on. Microsoft could have made Copilot a ubiquitous app (like the main Copilot application within Windows) but it instead added Copilot to various apps and services around its ecosystem.
And you know what? Microsoft actually has a case to be made here. “Copilot” can actually represent different models and stores of information. The “Copilot” within Microsoft Word can act differently than the general “Copilot” app within Windows, though it shares some common attributes. I’d expect that Copilot Github CLI is authored specifically to help with coding.
Still, think about it in this way: you’ll typically fly a regional jet from, say, Sacramento to Las Vegas, with about seventy seats. There are more Copilots than passengers!
Remember, Microsoft said that it would scale back Copilot in the future, optimizing the speed of Windows and the Windows ecosystem by reducing AI load. If that’s the case, it sounds like there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit for Microsoft to pluck.
