Microsoft relaunched its free AI chat service for businesses, now called Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, which includes access to AI agents for a monthly fee of thirty dollars per user. This service is designed to enhance workplace productivity by allowing users to upload files and interact with AI for tasks like managing emails and automating workflows. The pricing model for using these AI agents is based on message consumption, with a message costing one cent, while generative responses are priced at two cents and those accessing Microsoft data can cost up to thirty cents.
The free service utilizes OpenAI’s GPT-4 and allows users to create AI agents in languages like English and Mandarin for various functions, including market research and meeting preparation. However, premium features, such as summarizing Teams calls and generating PowerPoint slides, require a monthly subscription of thirty US dollars for Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Microsoft aims to encourage businesses to adopt this service, which has already seen significant user engagement since its previous iteration as Bing Chat Enterprise. According to Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer of AI, the goal is to familiarize users with AI in their daily work, ultimately increasing the likelihood of upgrading to the full Copilot service.
Google is integrating its full Gemini experience into its Workspace Business and Enterprise plans, eliminating the previous additional fees of twenty to thirty dollars per user per month for the Gemini add-on. This change reflects Google’s belief that artificial intelligence will fundamentally transform work processes. As a result, all Workspace tiers will see a price increase of a couple of dollars per month. For example, a customer on the Workspace Business Standard plan previously paying thirty-two dollars per user per month will now pay just fourteen dollars per user per month, which is only two dollars more than the previous rate without Gemini. The new pricing will take effect for new customers immediately and for existing customers starting March seventeenth, twenty twenty-five. Google assures that it will not use customer data for training models without permission, and the rollout of the Gemini features is expected to begin immediately for Workspace customers.
I’ll highlight Google Cloud is forming a new artificial intelligence sales team, led by veteran Brian Goldstein, to increase engagement with AI customers, including notable firms like Anthropic and Cohere. This shift comes alongside the disbanding of a sales division serving the central United States and the elimination of approximately sixty jobs.
LinkedIn introduced new artificial intelligence tools aimed at assisting job seekers and recruiters. The platform’s new Jobs Match tool will advise its one billion users on job applications, while a recruitment AI agent will support small businesses in managing their hiring processes. These tools are free to use, marking a shift from LinkedIn’s previous focus on premium offerings. Currently, job applications on LinkedIn are submitted at a rate of nine thousand per minute, but the job-seeking experience can be overwhelming, with many openings receiving hundreds or even thousands of applications. Rohan Rajiv, a director of product management, noted that there has been a forty percent increase in users activating the “Open to Work” feature, now totaling five million. Despite the platform’s extensive user base, only sixty-seven million users are actively looking for jobs each week, highlighting the challenges faced in recruitment. The company aims to ease the application process and enhance the matching of candidates with suitable job opportunities.
Why do we care?
It is interesting that it all happened together. Two reasons to care. First, your customers may have this feature now when they didn’t before. Second, it’s clear the sales strategy is changing. I’d posit that adoption numbers are far lower than they hoped – and this has been backed up by previous reporting – and thus the change. This puts the chatbots front and center with more subtle upsell based on usage.
If you had resisted AI, that is now significantly harder. I’ll observe it popped up in Word for me today.