Microsoft (MS) appears to have withdrawn its plan to charge a further $20 per thirty days to make use of the synthetic intelligence (AI)-based Co-Pilot feature in Office. Nonetheless, this feature is integrated into Office in a bundled form, and the fundamental fee is alleged to have increased accordingly.
The Verge reported on the seventh (local time) that Microsoft announced that it will bundle the ‘Co-Pilot Pro’ feature with MS 365 Personal and Family subscriptions.
By bundling the Co-Pilot feature with the MS 365 subscription, you do not need to pay the extra $20 (roughly 28,000 won) Co-Pilot usage fee. Currently available only in Australia, Recent Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Plans for regional expansion haven’t been disclosed, and evaluation suggests that this attempt is basically a test for future expansion.
Nonetheless, the issue is that as an alternative of providing AI functions totally free, the worth of the fundamental MS 365 subscription increases. One Australian user said this week that the price of his subscription had risen to 179 Australian dollars (about 165,000 won). The previous price was 139 Australian dollars (about 128,000 won). It is thought that the speed increase varies depending on the region.
“We’re increasing our prices to reflect the worth now we have added over the past 10 years and to make sure we will deliver recent innovations in the approaching years,” Microsoft explained.
It is usually identified that AI usage is restricted. “MS 365 Personal and Family subscribers will receive monthly AI credits to make use of CoPilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Designer,” Microsoft said.
If users don’t need AI features, they’ll use the MS 365 ‘Classic’ option on the previous price.
Co-Pilot, launched in November 2023, is anticipated to assist corporations increase productivity by responding to worker requests and supporting each day tasks corresponding to scheduling meetings, writing product notices, and creating presentation materials.
Nonetheless, comments are emerging that Co-Pilot is near failure.
Specifically, Marc Benioff, CEO of rival Salesforce, recently said, “MS Co-Pilot didn’t provide any value to customers.” I’m undecided if CoPilot is definitely worth the $20 per thirty days price.
As well as, it’s identified that corporations are flocking to ‘ChatGPT’ of technology partner OpenAI, and that Co-Pilot doesn’t have any differentiation. Because of this, Mustafa Suleiman, founding father of Inflection AI, who was developing an emotional chatbot, was recruited, but no clear improvement was reported.
MS’s latest motion is interpreted as reflecting this example. MS said in an official announcement, “It has been nine months since we introduced Co-Pilot to consumers within the MS 365 app through Co-Pilot Pro. Within the meantime, now we have added recent features, improved performance, and listened to customer feedback.” “Based on this feedback, we’re offering Co-Pilot as a part of our MS 365 Personal and Family subscriptions.”
Meanwhile, if Microsoft’s move is successful, attention will probably be paid as to if other corporations in the longer term will bundle AI functions without additional fees when adding AI functions to their software products.
Reporter Park Chan cpark@aitimes.com
