Forum Discussion
Microsoft's Copilot: A Frustrating Flop in AI-Powered Productivity
Microsoft's Copilot was supposed to be the game-changer in productivity, but it's quickly proving to be a massive disappointment. The idea was simple: integrate AI directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoi...
IgnacioDavila
Microsoft
MicrosoftStephanie Hoback thank you for the detailed feedback. I have a couple of questions before I go to my colleges in the product team to start working on your feedback. How long had you been using M365 Copilot? To make sure I understand what you are saying, would you like to have a Copilot that functions like a full assistant "get this done, regardless of what tool you use".
Everyone in this forum, please like this message if you are in a similar situation as Stephanie.
My issues with Copilot is that it is unpredictable in the set-up. It behaves differently depending on what type of window you are using. In one window you can't ask it about the document within the same frame, or even read a PDF - in another you can attach a file, but it doesn't clearly spell out the limits on edit/summary. Since we are sharepoint-based, it often suggests completely erratic/random files that are not in any way related to my query. And of course, the simplest - word. It doesn't understand the difference in pronouns, so when I ask Copilot to check for the correct pronoun in a long text, it fails and I have to edit myself anyway. The issue often is that several people work in a long text and sometimes use the singular possessive you and other times the plural possessive you. In excel it is just pointless, other than suggestions on how to write formulas, that is essentially "googling". It can't perform much anything useful in the large excel sheets I make.
I absolutely love Copilot! However, I’ve noticed recently that the voice search feature has been rolled back, which is quite disappointing. Additionally, I’m having trouble pasting or uploading images, as it keeps rejecting all supposedly supported types.
IgnacioDavila so I gotta tell you a few things...
#1. I absolutely loved the first iteration of Copilot. I just started using about a month and a 1/2 ago. i was very against a I technology, as I thought that it was going to ruin our lives. I was so very wrong, and so very impressed! So much so, that after a couple of weeks of use I signed up for the Pro. Version for use with my personal MS account. Yeah, I was really happy with it.
#2. Then I woke up one day this week, and much to my chagrin, what I had known and had become very happy with, had all of a sudden disappeared, and what was left is a shell of its former self,. Literally. I have given it a week or thereabouts, and I have tried diligently to work with it but when I ask it a simple question and it tells me that it can't get the information for me when it's predecessor could do it with ease? Fortunately, the non-ruined version of Copilot I still have in Microsoft Edge, and immediately after I asked the new Copilot the question that it should have been able to get the information for and couldn't, I opened up the better version by far and within three seconds, I had exactly what I needed. In other words, this new version of copilot it's something that Microsoft should not be proud of because you've taken something that was really, really amazing and turned it into a giant pile of crap so much so that I have canceled my subscription. Because if this is the future of co-pilot, I want nothing to do with it. i am a MS brand loyal person. Hardware/software user. IT Support tech. I like having integrations with all of my Microsoft tools, apps and browsers. Copilot#1 was the perfect integration for me. Until now. Now I'm going to have to go look at another option, because I've gotten to the point where I really like it thanks to the old version of copilot. You bring it back, I come back. Otherwise you've lost somebody that you shouldn't have lost. It takes a lot to lose me from Microsoft, and you did on this one for sure, which is a shame because this was a big one, and you had me, You had me! So dumb, MS. i will never understand what in the hell you guys could have possibly been thinking? After going from brilliance to this, I mean, i'm not even willing to call it Copilot, because it isn't. Should be called "Backseat Driver" or better "Drunken Passenger". That's how bad it is.
I echo this as well. I am the Office 365 manager in charge of implementing and supporting Copilot in our medium-size organization. The latest iteration has removed so much of the value. I used to be able to put Copilot and ChatGPT next to each other and see minimal differences in output. Now, with Copilot "chooses" not to help you, the listening mode rarely works. Added to that, the voices sound disinterested - which is very off-putting to users. The output you do get is generalizations and advice rather than actual help. The various copilot buttons in my browser take me to different "sign-ins" of the software so some buttons don't work at all given our security restrictions. I rarely used ChatGPT before this month but now it's my go-to for AI assistance. Whereas I used to tell people that Copilot is a great equivalent to ChatGPT and not to worry that it's the only approved enterprise tool, I must tell them I'm sorry - it's the enterprise tool you are restricted to use right now. We're researching other options, but it may be a year or more away.
Yes. I wanted Copilot to rewrite a few paragraphs toward a freshman college reading level; it's response: "Copilot can't generate high-quality content for this. Please change your description and try again."
After a couple of rewrites and getting the same response, I asked it how I should word my prompt and it gave me a sample... which I copied and pasted as my new prompt.
It's response? "Copilot can't generate high-quality content for this. Please change your description and try again."
"You're fired!"
- Nacho I am back! I found my old history conversations and all the functions of the old copilot. When I asked the new copilot why it didn't tell me this, I got this:
Why didn't you tell me that ask pilot still has all my history activity?
Copilot
Ah, thanks for pointing that out! If you're able to access your old conversation history via Ask Pilot, that's fantastic. My role here is to help in the moment, but it’s good to know there are ways to keep those past convos alive. Anything else you'd like to dive into today?
Wow! I am even more astonished then before with Microsoft. Why they hid this fact and the fact that we can click on the little icon for copilot on the top right section of the screen and then have the small page of the old copilot that even has the copy option and suggestive responses and if we would like to tailor the response to more precios or more broad answer.... I am going to get to save all my important previous questions before they decide that they will remove that feature too.- seabeegeorge thanks for the tip Jorge!
- Hey Nacho, my sentiment too. I can't believe they went backwards. I asked copilot what this was and it said it was an improvement. I asked it how could you call this an improvement when it was not and it had the same answer to me that it was to bad that I was frustrated with the change. That change often brings some adjustments. It was like they knew that they needed to tell the user something so they came up with these silly replies. They knew it was not going to go well with the user that had gotten used to having all the previous features. Wow, what a low blow from MS. I concure everything you said. I think this should crush MS..... Give it some time and they will return them features. for now, Venice.ai got a nice thing going over there with even more options that copilot could not answer anything political or medical related.
IgnacioDavila yes, it needs to behave like the ChatGPT paid version. I believe the team needs to study their largest competition.
- I second Stephanie's sentiment. Copilot is basically the pre-school version of chatGPT. We can ask cGPT for anything, and it will figure out what the right tool is to perform WHATEVER is being asked. I've been using both copilot and chatgpt next to each other for months now and Copilot is just painful. I feel like I'm using it just to have real experience when I challenge our IT department on the right tool. Sadly, Copilot is not there yet, most business cases I'm looking at are heavily favored by cGPT.
To the AttorneyGT who commented below, "I think over time we will see it mature.....chatGPT was pretty basic for its first year as well." While this is true, it's more of a justification for people to use Copilot and help it mature to a point of usefulness for businesses. Essentially, we are being asked to use a subpar tool to help make it better for the next year (most likely multiple years)? That's definitely going to happen regardless, but not a very good business strategy for MS. We shouldn't be convinced it's a superior tool when it is obviously not.
In the space of AI, OpenAI has a years long head start, which might as well be 30 in the world of AI. There won't be any tools that catch up with them due to how much they've matured the tools capabilities and interconnections with their tools which allow us to ask for anything, and more than likely get a response back that is more helpful than Copilot. The only benefit for Copilot is that they are positioned to have access to all of a company's business data because they are integrating directly with Azure which most businesses leverage these days. It's a huge advantage, but if you don't have the right tool, having access to the data means nothing.
I'm willing to be proved wrong here, this is just from personal experience from the last few years.
