Microsoft Made Another Copilot Ad Where Nothing Actually Works (theverge.com) 38
Microsoft's latest holiday ad for its Copilot AI assistant features a 30-second montage of users seamlessly syncing smart home lights to music, scaling recipes for large gatherings, and parsing HOA guidelines -- none of which the software can actually perform reliably when put to the test. The Verge methodically tested each prompt shown in the ad and found that Copilot repeatedly hallucinated interface elements that didn't exist, claimed to highlight on-screen buttons when it hadn't, and abandoned calculations midway through.
The smart home interface shown in the ad belongs to "Relecloud," a fictional company Microsoft uses in internal case studies. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that both the HOA document and the inflatable reindeer photo were fabricated for the advertisement. The ad closes with Santa Claus asking Copilot why toy production is behind schedule.
Further reading: Talking To Windows' Copilot AI Makes a Computer Feel Incompetent.
The smart home interface shown in the ad belongs to "Relecloud," a fictional company Microsoft uses in internal case studies. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that both the HOA document and the inflatable reindeer photo were fabricated for the advertisement. The ad closes with Santa Claus asking Copilot why toy production is behind schedule.
Further reading: Talking To Windows' Copilot AI Makes a Computer Feel Incompetent.
Copilot is GPT-5 (Score:3)
Always nice to bash Microsoft, but Copilot runs on gpt-5. Isn't OpenAI to blame?
Re:Copilot is GPT-5 (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Because Altman already has Nadella by the short ones.
Microsoft has market cap of something like 3.5T
Microsoft got talked into something like a 30% stake in OpenAI that is worth about 140B.
All and all something in the area of 3-4% of Microsoft's value is the belief OpenAI is worth what its valued at and continues to be invest-able. If OpenAI were to implode, it will show up on Microsoft's balance sheet enough the board might actually start looking for a new CEO..
Re:Copilot is GPT-5 (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft got talked into...
If OpenAI were to implode...
These are only yet more things that are Microsoft's fault.
False advertising is not the solution.
Re: (Score:2)
Did OpenAI do the false advertising? If not, then they're not to blame.
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Microsoft made the product selection. Of course they are to blame.
Re:Copilot is GPT-5 (Score:4, Funny)
To be fair, they probably asked Copilot to create the ad for them.
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Honesty in advertising? Well, sort of indirectly. That must be a first for Microsoft.
Re:Copilot is GPT-5 (Score:5, Insightful)
No. While it's true that historically Microsoft has excelled in flooding the world with both flawed products and deceptive advertising, the problem here is just the deceptive advertising.
My refrigerator can't write a recipe either, but that's ok because the manufacturer didn't claim that it could when they sold it to me.
Microsoft continues with their core competency, the one that made them the most valuable company in the world: exploiting a legal system that doesn't keep up with technology fast enough to enforce the law effectively. There was a time when running a TV ad full of outright lies would get a company in trouble.
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To be honest, I care less and less. Blithering criminal idiots fucking everything up and the rest too dumb and incapable to stop them. There is nothing to learn there except that on average, people are completely clueless. I knew that one before.
Same old (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's been a problem in tech since the beginning. Take a look at the PC ads from the 1980's... They always have some old white bossman with the keyboard in their lap and another happy smiling person standing behind the computer (?!?) looking at the screen from a 90 degree angle. Nobody actually types that way, and the other person could never actually see the screen from where they're sitting.
A new generation (Score:3)
That recipe complaint is bullshit. (Score:1)
And don't tell it to "spell it out for you in a document", because I don't even know what you're asking for there. You get markdown and that's fine.
I feel like they knew how to get it to do what they wanted, they were just being cunty about it.
Re:That recipe complaint is bullshit. (Score:4, Interesting)
You don't test something by walking down the golden path where everything works out perfectly. Instead you consider ways to break it and show that it doesn't work. If you want to convince me something is intelligent it had better damned we'll be able to take two pieces of knowledge it has and make logical connections between them. If you're not testing well or hard enough you're only pulling the wool over your own eyes.
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It completely nailed it just like I knew it would.
I can't explain why other people seem to have problems though. Maybe you're bad at prompting or using very old models.
Re: That recipe complaint is bullshit. (Score:2)
It is somewhat of an insulting example, although I see the practicality. There used to be a major organ in the human body that was better utilised. Thinking is replaced with artificial thinking.
All about selling and greed (Score:2)
Nothing about actually having a positive contribution in any way. Good old crappy Microsoft.
Microsoft can't shake the Clippy reputation (Score:2)
Got to give them credit (Score:2)
Hey, credit where it's due. At least they didn't use AI to make the ad.
Do they show it in the UK? (Score:1)
Re: Do they show it in the UK? (Score:2)
Citation needed. I'm the meantime, Copilot gave me this:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/us... [cornell.edu]
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"Microsoft" and where Nothing Actually Works (Score:2)
The Verge (Score:2)
This is good reporting.
Keep it up.
Santa, toy production is behind schedule.. (Score:5, Interesting)
...because you fired all of the elves after we told you that AI could do the work more efficiently.
(I was in a Microsoft presentation earlier today in which they were demonstrating how to use AI for "vibe programming". They spent an hour trying to get a Rails-based "Hello World" app running. At the end of the hour, it still wasn't working. Even in their pre-arranged demonstrations to customers, they can't get this crap working.)
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You have probably been put on the naughty list for sitting in on a Microsoft presentation for "vibe programming". Eeeewwww.
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I assure you, it wasn't my choice. My boss has been drinking the Microsoft kool-aid and we all have to suffer as a result.
Santa's probably using Copilot (Score:3)
The ad closes with Santa Claus asking Copilot why toy production is behind schedule.
The Verge's analysis makes a good case for why Santa's behind schedule: he's relying on Copilot.
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Santa is behind schedule because that Altman asshat installed a data center just down the street from Santa's Workshop. I heard that Rudolph's nose might even be left off this season because of the outrageous electric bills.
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You believe Rudolph's nose glows due to electricity? It would make much more sense that it's a symptom of an STI from oral sex with a bioluminescent lifeform.
They're really trying to force things to happen (Score:5, Insightful)
Our IT group keeps some records in Excel - so while I'm not crazy about using it, occasionally I do so. Anyway... a couple days ago I opened Excel (the desktop education version, FWIW) to make a quick edit to one of the files - and got hit in the face with an ad. "TALK TO COPILOT IN EXCEL", it said.
Why the F*** does Microsoft think I would want to talk to CoPilot about our damn spreadsheet?
Damnit Slashdot (Score:2)
I have uBlock Origin installed. I don't have any TV (broadcast, cable, etc..). Damnit Slashdot, stop telling me about ads. I don't care. I already know 100% are, and always have been, bullshit. I've been ad free since the mid 90s. Life is good. :-)
And I guess (Score:1)