Watchdog finds Microsoft guilty of misleading advertising for Copilot

Microsoft’s Copilot Faces Scrutiny from Advertising Watchdog

Microsoft has been promoting its Copilot feature in both personal and business sectors, but its impact has been less significant than anticipated. Recently, the National Advertising Division (NAD), a U. S.regulatory body, criticized Microsoft for its advertising practices related to Copilot.

Functionality Claims Under the Microscope

In a recent blog update highlighted by The Verge, NAD acknowledged that Microsoft’s Copilot does deliver on its promised functionalities within enterprise applications. These capabilities include summarizing content, generating text, and creating PowerPoint outlines. While some limitations exist, NAD believes these are relatively insignificant and don’t hinder most users’ experience with the tool.

Confusion Surrounding Business Chat

However, NAD found concerns regarding Microsoft’s messaging concerning its Business Chat feature. The watchdog indicated that the interchangeable use of “Copilot”in both the context of the assistant and Business Chat may lead to confusion among users assessing their respective functionalities. Specifically, despite Copilot’s efficiency in generating documents within other applications, Business Chat is less straightforward, requiring more manual input—an important distinction that Microsoft’s advertising does not adequately clarify.

Questionable Productivity Claims

Furthermore, NAD has urged Microsoft to reconsider its claims about productivity enhancements and return on investment (ROI).Although the company has supporting studies to justify these assertions, NAD feels the evidence does not align well with objective advertising standards. Notably, a UK government study did reveal that users trialing Copilot saved an average of 26 minutes per day; however, NAD still finds this insufficient to support Microsoft’s promotional claims.

Microsoft’s Response

In response to NAD’s findings, Microsoft expressed disagreement with some of the conclusions but stated that it has made adjustments to its advertising messaging to align with the watchdog’s recommendations.

For further details, refer to the original source: NAD via The Verge.

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