Microsoft wants its Copilot AI application to attract the Z generation of competitors by behaving like a therapist
- The CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, aims to win on the Z generation by developing emotionally intelligent AI tools that Behave more like empathic companions or life advisers than traditional digital assistants. Suleyman hopes to create lasting emotional connections that make Microsoft products more attractive to young generations in the long term, which currently promote Apple and Google.
The CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, thinks that it will capture the loyalty of the Z generation and millennium users if it builds products with enough emotional intelligence that customers are confided in.
Suleyman, who is in charge of building products such as Copilot App and the Edge web browser, said he reinvents Microsoft’s work assistant to help users with personal problems outside the desktop.
This comes after Sam Altman, the CEO of Openai, said: “People in their twenties and thirty use [ChatGPT] as a life counselor. “”
Microsoft, one of the main donors in Openai, wants to provide similar support to its customers.
According to a recent interview with Bloomberg’s Businessweek, the Suleyman team has taught their empathy, the humor and the kindness of their bot.
Microsoft has already deployed elements of this work, including an updated voice and more “human type” for Copilot and a feature that allows the bot to see the screen of a user.
Suleyman wants to go further, however, and says that Copilot has been programmed to detect a user’s comfort limits, diagnose problems and suggest solutions. For a demonstration, Suleyman says to the bot that he has anxiety before the AI responds with APAISING: “Difficult situations can blur clear reflection.”
Suleyman also worked on the inflection of the bot, introducing things like breaks and changes in volume to make the bot more like a human – something he says is “extremely difficult to do”.
Microsoft Gen-Z problem
Part of this is an attempt to market Microsoft’s products to a young generation, which currently prefers Apple and Google products.
Word, PowerPoint and Excel – The so -called “jewels” of the Crown of Microsoft – have become more and more out of words for many young people. The majority of generation Z says they now opt for services like Google Docs or Sheets Over Office 365.
“The way Satya tells me is that we are going through this generational change where young people today, who will become CEOs and industry leaders in a decade and make purchasing decisions in the company, will not really have experienced Microsoft,” said Bloomberg. “It is a great structural challenge.”
The AI chief said that people want an emotional link with AI assistants, and he thinks that if users see the co -pilot as a friend or a therapist, they will be more difficult for them to move to a competitive product.
Who is Mustafa Suleyman?
Suleyman’s vision to create an AI system which is a very intelligent form of friend is not a new business for him.
The previous 40 -year -old startup, IA inflection, developed a chatbot that prioritized emotional on general intelligence and was marketed as a friend as a help at work.
In 2024, Microsoft dismissed the inflection software and hired most of his team, including Suleyman, in an agreement worth hundreds of millions.
In an interview with Wired last year, the co -founder Deepmind described his work at Microsoft as “a kind of craft experiences that concern a kind of sustainable and sustained interaction with a companion”.
“To which I had been believing for a long time, even before Deepmind Days, it is the potential of the AI to provide support,” he said at the point of sale. “To see what it does to engage with one of these experiences over a sustained period of time – this companion who really gets to know you. It is coaching, encourage you, supporting you, teaching you. I think that will no longer be felt like a computer.”
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
