Microsoft’s Holiday Copilot Ad: Empty Promises
Microsoft has released another Copilot ad, this time with a holiday theme. The 30-second TV spot features actors asking Copilot for help with various festive tasks, from decorating to cooking.
However, just like the previous ad, I tested the prompts in this new ad and found that Copilot often struggles to deliver. In fact, it often hallucinates buttons, tells me to click on things that aren’t there, and provides confusing answers.
Copilot’s Limitations
One of the prompts in the ad asks Copilot to help a homeowner sync their holiday lights to their music. However, when I tried this with Copilot, it struggled to take me further than the initial step. It often told me it highlighted something when it didn’t, and it even hallucinated a green “Apply” button that wasn’t there.
Moreover, when I presented a fully configured app for my Philips Hue lights, Copilot’s answers were just as confusing. It identified the Hue Sync app, but then hallucinated buttons that weren’t there, pointed me to the Entertainment Zones I had already set up, and kept telling me it had highlighted things on my screen when it hadn’t.
AI-Generated Content
The ad also features AI-generated content, including a made-up-looking document titled “HOA Guidelines” and a picture of a giant inflatable reindeer in front of a house. When I showed Copilot the screenshot of the doc and image from the ad, it could detect the line that “large inflatables cannot cross your property line.” However, Copilot only gave me wishy-washy answers about the reindeer being too far over or not.
Admission of Fantasy
One of the prompts in the ad has jolly old St. Nick himself asking Copilot why toy production is falling behind. In the ad, Copilot says it’s because the elves have been consuming too much hot cocoa. But maybe it’s because management insists on shoehorning AI into their workflows.
Believing that Copilot can do what Microsoft says it can is like believing in Santa Claus. Microsoft’s marketing team may be selling a fantasy, but the reality is that AI assistants like Copilot still have a long way to go before they can deliver on their promises.
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