GitHub’s AI-based code assistant, Copilot, seems to be costing Microsoft money. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is reportedly losing an average of $20 per Copilot user each month. Intentionally or not, its pricing, ranging from $10 to $19 per user per month, appears insufficient for the company to cover its costs.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the service was losing an average of $20 per user per month at the beginning of the year, with the loss potentially reaching up to $80 for the most active users. The 1.5 million users of the service give an indication of the monthly losses incurred by the company.
This is perhaps why Microsoft has decided to charge more for its new services. The Copilot that will be provided starting in November with Microsoft 365 will cost customers $30 per month per user. Google has chosen a similar price for its competing offering, Duet AI. Even though these prices may already seem substantial, it is not certain that they will be sufficient to make the services profitable if the usage of the tools is not partially restricted.
Large tech giants naturally have the resources to finance the massive investments required while the market matures. However, the cost issue also applies to businesses.
So we will probably have to pay more to enjoy these services in the future… and to think that I still haven’t been able to try out these assistants 🙁
You can give GitHub Copilot a 30-day trial run without any charges: Github
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