Why aren't we in love with Copilot?

If you’ve been to a conference in 2024, you’ve probably been to a Copilot demo and thought to yourself: Copilot looks impressive.

The release of Wave 2 this week caused a bit of a stir too. First there was excitement - particularly if you were waiting for it to create pivot tables and code in Python - but then it all got a bit awkward when comments to Business Insider surfaced, with Microsoft responding to unfavourable comparisons with ChatGPT by suggesting the problem isn't Copilot; it's us.

Interesting PR choice. Bit gaslighty.

I keep expecting Copilot to become like Game of Thrones in 2018, when everyone I knew seemed incredulous I hadn't got on board and I started to feel too far behind to catch up.

Copilot should be the epitome of how generative AI can revolutionise the way you work. You can save time finding things, drafting things, analysing things… you can collaborate more easily, streamline workflows… it’s embedded into all the apps you use as standard.

So why aren't more people telling me to get on board?

There’s probably no simple answer. But we had a chat at Engine HQ and think there might be four simple answers.

1. It’s not cheap – Pro costs £19 per user, per month, or £23 ($30) for MS365, rising to $50 for specialised versions. That’s a big investment whether you’re a major player or an SME – especially when the pitch is that you will come to depend on it, and therefore presumably keep paying forever.
2. Experience tells you to be careful what you wish for – part of the genius of Copilot is that it can look right across your SharePoint folders. But that could be draft proposals, the comments people made on your draft, your final documents, and your uncensored notes. The odds of that content being found and misused were slim before, and it’s that capability that can lead to new insights. But what happens now when you ask Copilot what conversations your organisation has had about redundancies? Or your colleagues' salaries?
3. No one likes change – well, almost no one. Using generative AI across your organisation, as standard, is a classic transformation challenge: it takes a shift in habits that needs the power of a well-run culture change programme. Buying it is one thing, getting everyone to try it, use it to Microsoft's high prompting standards, and reap the benefits needs you to invest your teams’ time in roll-out and adoption. 
4. Maybe we’re just not that into it. Unlike GoT, it doesn't have any dragons or what Netflix call 'adult themes' - and Microsoft have never had the Apple touch for making stuff look cool. But it should be more convincingly useful. The best use of Copilot I’ve seen was in the first demo I went to: helping someone with ADHD cycle back to and find key information when they needed it, without having to rely on empathetic, patient managers and colleagues. Since then, the output I’ve seen has been… fine.

The risk is it's a bit too much like GoT in the end: I never got around to watching it, everyone complained about how it turned out, and I was left feeling like my time had been better spent watching Korean and Japanese TV, which is quietly (or not so quietly, depending which parts of the internet you read) having a bit of a moment.

Tell us your experiences of building AI into your day-to-day work, or ask us for more top telly recommendations. You can email us at info@engine-ai.co.uk.

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We build private AI tools that let you keep things simple; private generative AI assistants trained on content you verified, giving you answers your teams can rely on, and starting you on an AI change programme you can manage. We charge a one-off, affordable build cost and a single, fixed monthly cost for your whole organisation.