"$10 billion investment in OpenAI, and Copilot sucks compared to ChatGPT": Microsoft staffers and customers lament Copilot's warm and inviting update — a "step backward" and "absolutely ruined"

People enter the Studio B building of the Microsoft Corp. main campus in Redmond, Washington, U.S.

What you need to know

• Microsoft Copilot received a major overhaul at the beginning of October, overhauling its user interface and making the chat experience more intuitive.
• Users have been complaining about the new update. Several Microsoft staffers reportedly share the same sentiments, indicating that it's a step backward and has "absolutely ruined" Copilot's user experience.
• Microsoft has yet to address the issues highlighted through user feedback. Windows Central has reached out for a comment.

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Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant recently received a massive update. It shipped with a "warm and inviting" user interface and next-gen AI features, including Copilot Vision, which can browse the web in Edge, and new experiences that blur AI and human interaction. You'll need the $20 monthly Copilot Pro subscription to access most of these next-gen AI features.

Interestingly, while the new immersive experience was supposed to drive more growth to the platform, the overhaul has seemingly been received with mixed feelings, with the vast majority citing a degraded user experience, low-quality responses, and more.

And now, a new report by Business Insider reveals that Microsoft staffers share the same sentiments regarding Copilot's overhaul. According to private messages shared on Microsoft's message board, the update has "Absolutely ruined" Copilot's user experience. "The new Copilot is a step backward," another employee added.

An in-depth analysis by Business Insider further reveals that the sentiments are reflected in Copilot's public reviews on Apple's App Store. According to the outlet, Copilot was rated 4.8 out of 5 before the new update shipped, based on more than 100,000 ratings. 

However, this scorecard has since changed, especially after the massive update shipped, ultimately changing the platform's user experience. The outlet further notes that the reviews left by users seemingly turned negative, with more than 250 users leaving one-star reviews in October. Another user indicated the update "dumbed down" Copilot, making it less functional.

It'll be hard to compete against ChatGPT at this rate

The new Copilot UI running in the Windows 11 app (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

A separate report revealed that the top complaint about Copilot in Microsoft's AI division is that it doesn't work as well as ChatGPT. While this issue remains debatable, Microsoft categorically indicated it wasn't the case, "you're just not using it as intended." It also shifted the blame to a lack of proper prompt engineering practices, though it has since launched Copilot Academy to help resolve this issue and equip users with the appropriate skills to better leverage the tool's capabilities.

To this end, ChatGPT continues to reign over Copilot on mobile with the launch of flagship models like OpenAI's GPT-4o, leading to the biggest spike in revenue and downloads.

The massive Copilot update continues to be an issue for users, with the majority echoing the same message. For instance, a Copilot user recently highlighted their frustrations with the new experience in the r/CopilotPro subreddit on Reddit:

"So I just found out that Copilot for a Microsoft work account (like a student email account ) will show up as the older and preferred version of Copilot. The new version freaking sucks and I hate it. They deleted all my chat history and I had some important school assignments that I already started."  

Copilot “for work” is the older and better version from r/CopilotPro

Another user suggested that Microsoft introduce a toggle that lets users switch between the old and new experience. "$10 billion investment in OpenAI, and Copilot sucks compared to ChatGPT," Linux Root User on X (formerly Twitter) added. "The new voice feature is barely usable. Also, you should have brought the Cortana voice back."

To this end, it remains unclear what measures Microsoft is taking to enhance or resolve the issues regarding the new Copilot experience. Windows Central has asked for a comment from Microsoft.

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