Smaller Companies: Microsoft 'Misled' Us on 365 Copilot Access

Microsoft 365 Copilot, a suite of AI-powered productivity tools, is now available for enterprise customers. However, smaller companies are complaining that to get access, they must sign up at least 300 users.

First announced in September, Enterprise 365 Copilot contains AI tools for platforms such as Word, PowerPoint and Outlook, with enterprise users able to summarize emails, generate content for customers and catch up on points in Teams meetings.

TJ Devine, senior director of product marketing for Microsoft 365, confirmed the release in a blog post and said it is “generally available” for enterprise customers worldwide.

However, a flurry of complaints filled the comment section of Devine’s blog post from smaller companies that felt misled by the announcement.

“A lot of people are going to be disappointed to find that GA (generally available) only applies to larger enterprise clients and the rest of us are being left in the dirt,” one user said.

Another opined: “This was not forthright and actually pretty bad marketing to say things will be GA when a lot of businesses, the majority even, will not qualify. Bad look.”

A third said, ”Very disappointed in the way Microsoft has misled the community."

AI Business reached out to Microsoft for comment.

Related:Microsoft Unveils Enterprise Version of 365 Copilot AI Suite

Copilot features

Microsoft Copilot currently supports languages including English, Spanish, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. Devine said the company plans to support Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Hebrew and Turkish in the first half of 2024.

However, parts of 365 Copilot are still in preview or will start previews later this year, including Excel, OneNote, SharePoint and OneDrive.

Microsoft enterprise customers already have access to Bing Chat Enterprise, an AI-powered web chat with commercial data protection.

A version of 365 Copilot designed for government users is expected to begin rolling out during the summer of 2024.