Microsoft is struggling to sell Copilot to corporations - because their employees want ChatGPT instead

• Microsoft is trying to push its AI chatbot Copilot, but is hitting roadblocks
• Copilot is struggling against rival ChatGPT
• ChatGPT launched much earlier, giving the model a head start

AI chatbot models like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot are gaining huge traction in the workplace and beyond, but OpenAI's model is reportedly starting to show dominance in the business world.

A Bloomberg report has claimed even businesses which have purchased Copilot plans are struggling to convince users to make the switch, with drugmaker Amgen buying a 20,000 user plan, only to have employees continue using ChatGPT over a year later.

It is not the only customer to report issues, as workers shun Microsoft Copilot in favor of ChatGPT, which is used more at home and thus become more familiar to many.

A head start

Microsoft does use OpenAI’s models to power Copilot, and offers very similar features to ChatGPT, with information summaries, email drafting, data analysis, and image generation.

That being said, ChatGPT’s momentum and existing user base seems to be giving the chatbot the edge.

As of June 2025, ChatGPT has almost 800 million weekly active users, and 3 million paying business users, whereas Copilot has stagnated a little, with 20 million weekly users for the past year.

Theoretically, the race should be a little more even, since Windows is such a dominant operating system in the professional world. Microsoft salespeople have traditionally been able to use Windows compatibility as an effective selling point, but that’s no longer the case, the report suggests;

“The company’s [Microsoft’s] salespeople knew ChatGPT dominated the consumer chatbot market, but expected Microsoft to own the enterprise space for AI assistants thanks to decades-long relationships with corporate IT departments. But by the time Microsoft began selling Copilot to businesses, many office workers had already tried out ChatGPT at home, giving the chatbot a first-mover advantage.”

Despite negotiating with companies such as Volkswagen, Accenture and Barclays, which all signed deals for over 100,000 accounts in agreements worth ‘tens of millions’ a year, Microsoft still lags behind OpenAI in its user base, and organizations are having to encourage workers to use the chatbot.

The news comes after Microsoft has announced largescale layoffs, with between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs worldwide expected to be cut - amounting to nearly 3% of the firm’s workforce - just two years after 10,000 personnel were made redundant (5% of the workforce).

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