Microsoft's efforts to monetize its massive investments in generative artificial intelligence are now reaching consumers.
How the Wall Street Journal reportedthe price of the company's 365 service is rising in regions including Australia and parts of Asia due to the inclusion of the company's Copilot AI assistant.
Charging for Copilot isn't new; the company is already looking enterprises to pay $30 per month per user. But now Copilot is a feature in some editions of Microsoft's 365 service, which includes popular apps like Word, PowerPoint, Teams and Excel. The AI assistant, who contains technology from the manufacturer ChatGPT OpenAIin which Microsoft has invested about 14 billion dollars, gets integrated with these applications. Microsoft also competes with other companies including Apple, Google and Anthropic that have their own versions of rapidly developing artificial intelligence software.
Even when using technology like ChatGPT 4, Copilot sees Microsoft and as a competitor.
According to a Wall Street Journal story, chatbot Copilot lags far behind ChatGPT in the number of downloads of its app, with 37 million downloads compared to 433 million from May 2023 to mid-December 2024.
Copilot Reviews as standalone software were mixed up and the company faced a public relations challenge because of the Copilot AI feature called Recall, which has raised privacy and security concerns. Remember, though, it's not a 365 feature; it's a Windows 11 Copilot feature that also relies on artificial intelligence technology.
In Australia, the monthly price of the 365 is increasing from AU$11 to AU$16, a 45% increase. In the US, Microsoft's enterprise customers can expect a 5% increase for 365 Copilot starting in April.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to an email request about the 365 price increase.