Employees Prefer ChatGPT Over Copilot, Sparking Microsoft’s Frustrations and Price Adjustments

In a recent piece by Bloomberg, it is reported that OpenAI is increasingly encroaching on its primary investor in the corporate sales sector, where Microsoft has historically held a strong position. The publication notes that Microsoft is experiencing significant challenges in selling its AI assistant due to clients’ employees preferring to use ChatGPT and being reluctant to switch.

For instance, last spring, the pharmaceutical firm Amgen purchased 20,000 licenses for Copilot, but this year they expanded their usage of ChatGPT. Employees consistently communicated to management that this application was better suited for searching and summarizing scientific articles. This isn’t an isolated case; according to consultancy Bain & Co., 16,000 of their employees regularly utilize ChatGPT, while only 2,000 use Copilot.

As Amgen’s vice president, Sean Breich, stated, “OpenAI has made its product incredibly engaging.” The company is leveraging the fact that ChatGPT was the first on the market—OpenAI reports that the number of corporate users has reached 3 million, marking a 50% increase in just a few months. Given that Copilot uses the same models, Microsoft finds it challenging to articulate to clients what distinguishes their product. The company does not disclose actual sales figures, only mentioning that 70% of the Fortune 500 companies use their assistant. Concurrently, Microsoft emphasizes that their product costs $30 per user, while OpenAI’s pricing can climb up to $60. In response, OpenAI has started to structure its pricing based on usage, which often diminishes any competitive advantages.

Even though Microsoft is OpenAI’s main investor, having sunk $14 billion into the company, their relationship is growing increasingly strained. For example, Microsoft is exploring the potential of incorporating competitors’ products into its services while simultaneously developing its own models. In turn, OpenAI is forming partnerships with rival cloud providers and recently acquired Windsurf, a direct competitor of GitHub Copilot. Additionally, it has been reported by The Information that OpenAI is preparing a collaborative mode for multiple users in Canvas, but the company hesitates to launch it due to concerns about it directly competing with Microsoft Office products, exacerbating tensions between the two firms.

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