Latest news with #Jominy
The Star
4 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Microsoft's Copilot is getting lapped by 900 million ChatGPT downloads
Microsoft Corp has spent billions of dollars to get people like Tyson Jominy using its Copilot, an artificially intelligent personal assistant designed to make it easier for consumers to navigate the world. But when Copilot pops up on Jominy's computer screen, it's typically an accident – the result of a mistaken push of what used to be a control key. He would much rather use ChatGPT on his smartphone, or Grok, which helps him make sense of the rapid-fire stream of posts on X. Jominy, who manages teams working in data and analytics, has used Copilot at work, but he has no interest in using it off the clock. Jominy has a lot of company. While the Copilot smartphone app has been downloaded 79 million times, according to Sensor Tower, ChatGPT, the pioneering chatbot created by Microsoft partner OpenAI, recently surpassed 900 million downloads. Despite spending heavily on artificial intelligence and associated infrastructure over the past couple of years, the world's largest software maker is struggling to make headway against ChatGPT and a host of other AI assistants. Microsoft shares have surged about 20% so far this year, based largely on Wall Street's expectations that the company's AI bet will help secure its future, but some investors are starting to get impatient. "They have to win this,' said Gil Luria, an analyst with D.A. Davidson. "If they don't, someone else will.' Microsoft is staking its future on three Copilot-branded products: a coding assistant for developers, a workplace helper embedded in the likes of Outlook and Word, and a personal assistant built to help people like Jominy navigate and understand the world. At an all-hands meeting in May, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella told employees the goal is to get hundreds of millions of people using Microsoft's family of AI apps, Bloomberg previously reported. The company started baking AI into its products two years ago. The Bing search engine was restyled as an AI companion for the web. Windows users were told to get ready for a chatbot that would "personalize and navigate your PC.' But behind the scenes, engineers were struggling to create the new world executives were pushing for. They had access to the same raw material - the large language models built by OpenAI - but mostly came up with slightly different spins on how chatbots might improve the lives of users searching the web or writing an email. Whatever advantage Microsoft had thanks to its close ties with OpenAI wasn't translating into hoped-for market share gains in products like Bing. Nadella eventually tired of the halting progress, and recruited Mustafa Suleyman 15 months ago to run Microsoft's consumer AI operation. Depending on who you talk to, Suleyman was either an inspired or risky hire. A British founder of two well-regarded AI startups, DeepMind and Inflection, he's widely considered a brilliant recruiter and motivator of engineers. He also acknowledged missteps while managing large teams at Alphabet Inc.'s Google, including setting "pretty unreasonable expectations.' Besides leading the teams working on the consumer-focused Copilot, he's responsible for a bunch of existing products – the Edge browser, the MSN news and web landing page, Bing search – that boast millions of users but little cultural cachet. Suleyman tends to wax philosophical on the subject of artificial intelligence - thinking aloud in LinkedIn posts and frequent podcast appearances on what it means to be human and the nature of computer intelligence. Translated, he's essentially saying that he wants to build AI assistants that keep humans in the loop and help better themselves. He professes zero desire to create machines smarter than people for the sake of a milestone. Artificial general intelligence "is not our mission,' Suleyman said in an interview earlier this year. "Products are our mission, and we are singularly focused on: Is it useful? Does it help? Is it supportive? Am I happy?' Shortly after his arrival, Suleyman split the software that powers the consumer edition of Copilot from the workplace version, reflecting a belief – informed by Microsoft's enormous roster of corporate clients – that people will end up using distinct AI tools depending on whether they're at work or home. A personal chatbot might need to be able to hop among shopping apps or counsel someone who's experienced a death in the family, capabilities that aren't on the wish list of office workers toiling in Excel. Suleyman's consumer Copilot, though developed atop the same AI models as its corporate cousin, was rebuilt from the ground up. It was a rocky transition. People who used Copilot as their default Android smartphone assistant, summoning it with the push of a button, lost that ability, meaning they'd have to use the app to interact with the software. App stores lit up with reviews from frustrated users who watched features like the ability to quickly edit AI-generated images disappear overnight. The company has reintroduced some features, but complaints of bugs – sudden ends to conversations, or cases where Copilot wiped conversations it was supposed to recall – persist. Watching Microsoft's Copilot commercials, it's easy to imagine a range of basic things a Windows AI assistant could do – from setting up appointments to identifying which programs are draining the battery. After all, Microsoft created a similar roadmap a decade ago with its Cortana voice assistant. In 2015, Cortana could drop into your calendar to find time for an appointment, compose an email, or set a reminder designed to go off when the user arrived at a certain place. But the Copilot app installed on Windows laptops can't even increase the volume or open Outlook. Suleyman has said AI will eventually remake graphical interfaces like Windows. But for now, Microsoft executives are wary of alienating users by forcing them to learn new habits and tend to bolt AI innovations onto existing tools. When the company started rolling out an AI agent to help manage PCs last month, it wound up in Settings, not the Copilot app. There are technical challenges, too. The operating system only gets a few major updates a year and isn't set up to receive frequent tweaks of the sort the Copilot team are rolling out. "That's our big challenge,' Suleyman said. "There's a kind of annual rhythm to it, and there's also just a lot of degrees of freedom that are restricted.' So by default, Copilot is a smartphone app. That's a problem because Alphabet Inc.'s Android and Apple Inc.'s iOS power virtually all of the world's mobile devices. Both are also weaving their own artificial intelligence tools into their mobile operating systems. There's no precedent for Microsoft building a must-have smartphone app from scratch. "It's incredibly difficult, especially when the owners of those devices are trying to do the same thing,' said Matthew Quinlan, a former Microsoft manager who tried, with little luck, to get people using a Cortana smartphone app a decade ago. The Copilot app is a work in progress. The chatbot was recently given the capability to recall things users have brought up – dietary preferences, say, or details about family members. But the results are uneven, and the software has a tendency to use its newfound memory to bring up irrelevant facts to keep a conversation going. Copilot can be a savvy shopping guide, though it has a habit of sending users to dead links. And like all chatbots, it's beholden to an imperfect set of information (much of it sourced from Bing's web crawlers), making it prone to confidently reciting outdated news or flubbing a weather forecast. Ask Copilot where to buy a travel charger, and it might display a map of nearby electric vehicle charging stations. In an effort to improve Copilot, Suleyman brought over the six-week product sprints he used at Inflection. At the end of the six weeks, and in periodic stops in between, employees are expected to candidly assess their progress. "I'm trying to get people into experimentation, risk-taking, being open about their hypotheses, not owning that personally as their pet project, but just being ruthless about experimentation,' he said. Microsoft's struggles with its consumer Copilot echo the challenges the company is experiencing with the version it created for corporations. Bloomberg has reported that many office workers prefer ChatGPT, and have been pressuring their bosses to let them use it. Some companies are testing both Copilot and ChatGPT and awaiting employee feedback before deciding whether to use one, the other or both. Microsoft's longstanding relationship with corporate clients gives it leverage in the workplace. Should corporate IT managers deem Copilot the superior option, they can simply tell employees to use it. Microsoft, aside from the nudges it can drop into Windows, has no such sway with consumers. Executives say they aren't sweating the user chasm between ChatGPT and Copilot, confident that – when the time is right - they can get the product in front of consumers. They see Copilot's emphasis on being a personable companion as a potential advantage with a younger cohort that tends to use AI tools as sounding boards, rather than replacements for web search. A trial advertising campaign this spring catapulted Copilot up the charts on Apple's App Store, the company says. Copilot's monthly active users have increased 76% between April and June, to 23 million, Sensor Tower says. But the app's growth rate over the last year has trailed its major rivals, according to the market intelligence firm. Suleyman's team is banking on wowing people with two features: vision, which analyzes what's on a user's PC screen or captured by their smartphone camera, and voice chat. Engineers got the chatbot to recognize the difference between somebody taking a pause and finishing a thought, an effort that can result in surprisingly fluid conversations. They've also taken pains to keep the voice from sounding robotic. Shamontiel Vaughn, a writer and editor in Chicago, recently tried voice mode and was blown away that the software nailed the pronunciation of her name on the first go, something people almost never pull off. Then Copilot couldn't answer her next question. "I was very impressed, then very unimpressed three seconds away,' she said. But Vaughn remains intrigued by Copilot, which she uses for research and the occasional bit of cooking advice after being prompted to try the software by its colorful swirl logo in Microsoft Edge. She's got a wish list – the ability to make sense of scanned documents along with fine-grained control of image generation – for what's become a helpful, if largely optional, tool. "It's nice to have,' she said. "But I'm not going to lose my mind over it.' – Bloomberg
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Bloomberg
Microsoft's Copilot Challenge: 900 Million ChatGPT Downloads
Tyson Jominy routinely summons Microsoft Corp.'s AI assistant by tapping the Copilot key on his computer. Not because he means to. He's actually aiming for what was once the Control key and is annoyed to see Copilot pop up on-screen. For his personal AI needs, Jominy would rather consult ChatGPT on his smartphone, or Grok, which helps him make sense of the rapid-fire stream of posts on X. Jominy, who manages teams working in data and analytics, has used Microsoft Copilot at work, but he has no interest in using it off the clock.
05-07-2025
- Automotive
Can't afford a six-figure sports car? These automakers are still making fun, affordable models
The sports car market may be shrinking, but there are still options out there for budget conscious drivers. Dave Coleman, an engineering manager for Mazda, can list plenty of reasons why more Americans should get behind the wheel of the diminutive MX-5 Miata ($29,530). Coleman takes his to the airport -- "Buy luggage that has a soft side and put in the trunk, it's bigger than you think" -- and successfully navigates California commuter traffic among the SUV and truck leviathans. Plus, at 6'2, he's proof that tall individuals can squeeze into a Miata without feeling crunched inside. "There is so much boring stuff in our daily life ... so much of daily driving is not fun," Coleman told ABC News. "Sports cars are an attainable way to enjoy your life. You can push the envelope with a sports car." Coleman said the capable Miata, which has been around for 35 years, has earned its reputation as one of the top sports cars because of its affordability, lightness and buoyant personality. It's also one of the few sports cars on the market that has been able to withstand consumer trends, which haven't been favorable to two-seaters. "You can drive the car at the limit without going so fast that you can't see through the corner," he said. "The suspension is supple and soft and made for bumpy roads -- you can easily drive it in traffic. It's tuned for backroads, not the track. We sell as many as we build." U.S. drivers may lust over sports cars, but few can afford to have one. Sports cars cost more on average, drawing in wealthier buyers who likely have more than one car in the garage, according to Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power. Sales of sports cars have been steadily declining since their peak in 2005, making up just 1.1% of the current U.S. auto market, Jominy noted. "Sports cars are not very practical," Jominy told ABC News. "To have one compromises your lifestyle. As a former Miata owner, it's fantastic to get pizza in, but you can't fit the pizza box inside. I love the Miata and hope and pray it has a great future but there are major trade-offs to be in a sports car. You need excess funds to afford these vehicles." He added, "People still want to have fun, but the practicality and cost preclude people from buying sports cars." Fewer Americans may be choosing sports cars but Joe Bellino, the Mustang brand manager, said the "iconic" Ford sports car and its manual transmission will be here for "the long haul." Bellino noted that the Mustang (starting price $31,920) dominated the U.S. sports car segment in May, accounting for 62% of sales. The summer months will help boost sales even more, he said, adding that the brand is seeing strong interest from women, especially in the track-focused Mustang Dark Horse. Whether buyers chose the coupe or convertible, Bellino can attest that the Mustang has more than good looks and performance to keep drivers happy. He drove one every day after college and loved it. "We have the big infotainment screen, the limited slip differentials, heated seats, ventilated seats, heated steering wheel, plenty of truck space and adjustable drive modes, plus the Co-Pilot360 technology comes standard on all models," he told ABC News. "You're not losing anything, you're not sacrificing with a sports car." U.S. drivers who are seeking a sports car for $50,000 or less can also test-drive the Toyota GR86, Subaru BRZ and Nissan Z. Though not viewed as traditional sports cars, the BMW 230i coupe, MINI JCW 2-door and GR Corolla are all relatively affordable and can be gratifying on twisty roads and local chicanes. The Chevy Camaro, a former competitor in the space, was retired in 2024, though Mark Reuss, president of General Motors, seemed open to the possibility of its return. "That formula of beauty and little bit of functionality and fun is really important," he told ABC News. "If we were to bring back the Camaro, that piece of it is really core." Vinay Shahani, senior vice president of U.S. marketing and sales for Nissan, said sales of the Z have been "fantastic" since its relaunch in 2023, noting that buyers get a lot of performance for the price. "We still have a sports car in the lineup when other car companies have walked away from those type of vehicles. It puts us in a positive situation, especially with the enthusiasts," Shahani told ABC News. "Very few car companies offer a manual transmission, 400 horsepower sports car that starts in the low $40,000s. It's a formula that doesn't exist at very many car companies." Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver, said the site's readers are constantly asking for more articles about affordable sports and performance cars, evidence that there is pent-up demand. Quiroga, however, said he feared these cars could disappear from showrooms in the future as the market shrinks. "Coupes are a hard sell ... everyone wants a practical shape like an SUV," he told ABC News. "The customer has shifted. The performance space moved into electric cars." Quiroga said the exploits of driving a sports car, especially a gas-powered one, cannot be replicated in an SUV or crossover. "It's a little bit of theater and passion ... the whole driving experience is different," Quiroga said. "There's magic to an internal combustion engine. Drivers want to hear the engine and shift the gears themselves. Supercar makers understand this." Rory Carroll, the former EIC of Jalopnik and co-founder of Alloy mag, acknowledged that building sports cars today versus 20 years ago is a "really hard business case for a lot of automakers." He's still not convinced sports cars will eventually cease to exist. "I disagree with the premise that people don't want to buy them," he told ABC News. "I feel a responsibility to recommend these cars ... and I am grateful for these companies that have invested in the segment." Carroll, who called the Miata "one of the all-time great cars," said every driver should have an opportunity to own a sports car, if only for a few years. He took out a bank loan in his 20s to buy a used Porsche 911, a decision that taught him "so much" about driving. "You can't do it forever -- you will age out of a sports car," he conceded. "It may not be the smartest decision you can make on paper, but owning a sports car is a life experience too few people are having. You will never regret buying a sports car." Coleman, the Miata engineer, said he takes his car to the mountains every weekend, driving "the wheels off this thing." Everyone can have that same experience, he argued. "What makes the Miata unique is that it's focused purely on being fun to drive. It's not a performance car," he said. "The design is classic -- it will look good in another 25 years. It's crazy that you can have that much fun and it cost almost nothing." Ferry Porsche, the scion of Porsche AG founder Ferdinand Porsche, famously said, "The last car built on Earth will surely be a sports car." We'll see if he's right.
03-05-2025
- Automotive
'Cult following': Why automakers are still making wagons in the SUV era
Think your giant sport-utility vehicle is cooler than the middling station wagon? Think again. German automaker BMW recently entered the U.S. "super wagon" category with its high performance M5 Touring, a ludicrously fast family hauler (starting price $121,500) that can smoke a two-seater sports car on a racetrack -- again and again. This is the wagon you wish your parents drove. The wagon's turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 packs 717 horsepower and BMW claims a 0 to 60 mph sprint in 3.5 seconds. Bonus: the M5 Touring is a plug-in hybrid and gets about 25 miles of pure electric range, allowing owners to cruise through town (almost) unnoticed. "We're seeing lots of customer demand for the M5 Touring ... customers don't want to sacrifice utility and performance," Juliana Ochs, a manager of business development for BMW Luxury Class and M, told ABC News. "The Touring is the new kid on the block. There was a strong ask for it here in the U.S. and we listened to our customers." The M5 Touring, which has been on sale in Europe, is just starting to arrive at U.S. dealerships. Few enthusiasts have ever seen one in person. "People are definitely calling in about the M5 Touring," Jordan Bray, a sales adviser at BMW of Latham, New York, told ABC News. "There's a cult following when it comes to wagons -- not just BMW, but all manufacturers. We're super excited to see it." Bray said interested buyers may have trouble getting access to one. "I don't know how many dealers want to give up allocations for that car," he said. Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, said wagons, like the forgotten minivan, have been unfairly maligned by U.S. motorists. "There are excellent minivans out there and excellent wagons," he told ABC News. "They both have a stigma that is long out of date in my opinion. Wagons are a sleeper agent -- you can probably get away with a lot of stuff that may be frowned upon by your local police." Jominy noted that the market for premium, six-figure wagons like the M5 Touring and Audi RS6 Avant caters to a very niche customer -- one who may also have a Ferrari parked in the garage. "A 'super wagon' is fan service to your most loyal owners," he said. "Your most loyal owners know about your global portfolio and the forbidden fruit that exists out there. And one of the secrets in the auto industry is that wagon buyers spend real money. Premium luxury wagon buyers typically get zero incentives." Plus, there are many other reasons to own a wagon, Jominy argued. "They will drive better because they're lower to the ground and keep their center of gravity," he noted. "They're better handling vehicles and drivers should get better fuel economy than an SUV." When Audi introduced enthusiasts to its RS6 Avant in 2019 (starting price $126,600), the wait time to get one was two to three years, according to Mark Dahnke, an Audi spokesperson. The automaker sells about 1,000 units in the U.S. and interest is still strong -- including with families. Like the M5 Touring, the RS6 Avant's performance credentials match or exceed sports cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more: 621 hp, 627 lb.-ft. of torque, 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds. And unlike low-slung, compact sports cars, the menacing RS6 doubles as a stylish people mover that can go just about anywhere and perform capably on dirt trails and and slippery roads. "It is a very special car for which its buyers receive applause from every fellow enthusiast," Dahnke told ABC News. "Everyone from Bugatti to R8 owners applaud your decision to buy an RS6 Avant Performance." Mercedes-Benz recently said the 2026 E53 Hybrid wagon heads to U.S. dealers later this year. The company's last high-performance wagon, the E63 S, immediately won over wealthy enthusiasts' hearts and wallets. Mercedes is expecting a similar reaction to this model, which makes 577 hp from a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six and an electric motor. "As a performance plug-in hybrid, it combines the best of both worlds: exhilarating driving dynamics and performance with the efficiency of all-electric driving for daily commutes," a Mercedes spokesperson told ABC News. "The wagon also benefits from the numerous advancements introduced with this new generation E-Class, including all-new electronic architecture, third-generation MBUX infotainment, greater connectivity and expanded comfort features." The U.S. wagon market has been shrinking, however. Volvo recently ended production of its well-liked V60 Polestar Engineered plug-in wagon. The new Subaru Outback, which was unveiled at the New York International Auto Show in April, looks more like, well, an SUV. But Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver, said the options available for this niche segment are "pretty cool." "I think the RS6 Avant sort of proved that there is a market and BMW wants to tap into that," he told ABC News. "The M5 Touring is a halo car ... it's for the enthusiasts who maybe are disappointed that BMW built so many SUVs. A wagon works just as well as an SUV in so many cases. And it's more fun to drive." Patrick Lalewicz, a product manager at BMW, acknowledged that BMW owners can get a thrill from other M vehicles on the market, like the M5 Sedan and X5M SUV. The M5 Touring, however, grabs all the attention.
