Microsoft's AI tool Copilot, already part of Windows 11, is at least free, with the option to ignore it entirely. Copilot Pro, on the other hand, is a subscription service and was initially available only to business users. Now, however, the software giant is allowing anyone to participate in additional AI actions for just $20 per month. Oddly enough, Microsoft's main target seems to be 365 subscribers.

Before jumping into the details of this plan (discovered by "The Verge"), let me raise one thing first: has Microsoft completely lost the plot? At "$20/month," that's twice what we currently pay for a Family 365 subscription. For that amount of money, you could buy one copy of Valheim, or 12 copies each year. You can't be serious. It won't even be called Shirley.

So what exactly do you get for this ridiculous amount of money? First of all, you get Copilot unlocked within every Office app you would have, which allows you to create presentation slides completely from text prompts, reply to emails with

Now you can create reports by analyzing data in spreadsheets, etc.

Now, I am not going to pretend that I find this useless. But I am not the target of Copilot Pro. I can do all of these example tasks perfectly well on my own, and I can do them fairly quickly.

Nor am I particularly interested in generative AI. It's a little fun to play around with, but it's not for me at all. But if you're one of those people, fortunately the Copilot Pro has more features.

For example, it has access to all of Microsoft's latest AI models used to create image and text responses in chat systems. In the latter case, if you sign up for a Pro subscription, you will eventually have access to what is called the Copilot GPT builder. Yes, you can build your own AI-powered chatbot.

There are probably many more things you can do with a Copilot Pro account, and if you are an AI power user, $20/month may just be a bargain.

But that's not the issue here, at least for me. It's the fact that Microsoft is actively promoting 365, especially along with a simple personal version for only $7/month.

How many of those who have such an account would want to add another $20 for something they rarely utilize?

Unfortunately, 2024 is the year of the AI PC, and Microsoft is clearly trying to bring AI PCs to every product they have, along with every subscription they offer.

Copilot and Copilot Pro are just the beginning of what is to come, but I can't help but feel that Microsoft has gotten the pricing and marketing for the Pro version drastically wrong. I think a $5/month version dedicated to Office apps would be much better received.

Time will tell.