Recently, Microsoft's internal team is undergoing an "AI defense battle" led by CEO Satya Nadella. According to insiders, due to dissatisfaction with the performance of its AI assistant Copilot, Nadella has significantly shifted his work focus, moving from managing daily business operations to working closely with technical teams, even directly "questioning" product details in engineering groups.

Nadella's anxiety is not without reason. Although Microsoft initially gained an early advantage in the enterprise market through its collaboration with OpenAI, current market feedback has been mixed. In an internal email, Nadella explicitly stated that Copilot is not smart enough when connecting with core software like Outlook, and it is even "unusable." At the same time, some early large clients have begun re-evaluating the value of their high subscription fees. For example, the University of California, Los Angeles, is considering reducing the number of licenses because some employees reported that Copilot did not meet expectations for automation, leading to low usage rates.

In terms of competition, Microsoft is facing a "wolf in front and a tiger behind" situation. Google Gemini's rapid progress in document processing capabilities, as well as GitHub Copilot losing market share to emerging programming tools like Cursor and Devin, have put unprecedented pressure on Nadella. To accelerate product iteration, Nadella not only hosts weekly technology meetings but also personally recruits top AI research talent with high salaries and facilitates deep cooperation with vendors such as Anthropic.

This CEO, who previously led Microsoft's successful transition to cloud computing, has issued a warning to employees: the company is at a critical turning point. If Copilot cannot demonstrate significant paid value within existing software, Microsoft may repeat the regret of missing the opportunity in the mobile era.