Microsoft 365 Copilot: The AI Assistant Built Into Office Work
The AI announcement that probably affected the most people's working lives https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/03/16/introducing-microsoft-365-copilot-your-copilot-for-work/ did not require any adoption decision of any release in the past few years, partly because it did not require any adoption decision. The AI was simply added to the software people were already using.
The distribution advantage being the story rather than the model quality is the honest framing. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams having AI assistance available through the existing interface reaches people who would never have sought out a standalone AI tool. That passive exposure is how AI moved from early adopter technology to default workplace feature faster than any previous enterprise software category.
The meeting summary capability being the most universally adopted feature across organisations is worth noting because it captures the pattern of AI adoption in professional contexts. The highest adoption rates are for tasks where the AI does something the user genuinely did not want to do manually and where the output quality threshold is achievable. Meeting notes summarised automatically with decent accuracy is that task for a broad professional population.
The Excel and PowerPoint AI capabilities being more contested in adoption is the flip side. Tasks where people have established competence and where AI assistance changes their role rather than removing a burden show slower adoption and more ambivalence.
Which office task do you most want AI to automate: emails, spreadsheets, presentations, or meetings?