Know Why Microsoft AI Is Killing Its Best Copilot Feature

Date: June 12, 2024

Microsoft is rolling back one of its most prominent AI features, the GPT builder. The reasons behind it going back sound quite bizarre.

Microsoft has led the AI consumer space by offering multiple attractive tools since it acquired a majority stake in OpenAI. While the response from consumers has remained positive, Microsoft AI has decided to kill one of its most attractive services, the GPT Builder. The tech giant is silently killing off its exclusive Copilot Pro GPT Builder, claiming that the tool is not a top priority for consumers anymore.

We are continuing to evaluate our strategy for consumer Copilot extensibility and are prioritizing core product experiences while remaining committed to developer opportunities. To this end, we are shifting our focus on GPTs to Commercial and Enterprise scenarios and are stopping GPT efforts in consumer Copilot.

- The company’s official announcement says

Any user who has bought the GPT builder tool must remove all data by July 14th, 2024, after which it will no longer be accessible. The company has also clarified that after July 14, all the data stored on the GPT builder will be deleted permanently.

Copilot’s GPT Builder is an AI-powered tool that lets its users build a custom chatbot by training it on local data and personal preferences. It is a unique product that remained undervalued for the longest time it was on the market. Mircosoft Copilot is the Microsoft-specific version of the Copilot and offers the same experience for its users. The last day to build GPT will officially be 10th July, after which the services will be shut down.

Microsoft recently launched an exclusive Copilot Laptop series that seamlessly enables AI-powered computing for general users. The Copilot GPT builder tool is similar to Apple Intelligence, whose purpose is to know you and blend as you seem fit. 

This step, however, eliminates one of the three reasons why people paid a $20/month subscription fee for Copilot Pro over the basic Copilot. They were priority access to new LLMs, Copilot in Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote), and the Custom GPT Builder. Users may now shift to other AI apps that offer more value for the invested money and probably don’t have a history of rolling back premium features without a strong reason.