Technology
Tried and tested: It’s intelligence, Jim, but not as we know it
Built on the foundations of one of the market’s best generative AI platforms, Microsoft Copilot is all about the ecosystem. But is it any good?
03 November 2025
Microsoft Copilot started out in 2023 as Bing Chat, succeeding Cortana in the Microsoft ecosystem. It was built using GPT-4 from OpenAI and slowly oozed into every Word, Excel, and Teams crevice and crack. The objective was to create a tool capable of transforming task automation, helping people get more done, and optimising workflows. By 2025, it can manage business processes, access multiple tools and data, and collaborate across departments.
To date, more than 230 000 companies have adopted the GenAI tool, according to Microsoft, while Gartner found that 94% of companies using it are seeing measurable benefits. Gartner also said that only 6% of companies have actually rolled the technology out globally, with 72% still in the pilot phase. There are multiple reasons for the sluggish implementation.
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