Could Microsoft Copilot become the next Internet Explorer?

Copilot comparison

Microsoft Copilot is the company’s flagship AI assistant, integrated across Windows 11, Microsoft 365 apps, Bing, and Edge as an “everyday AI companion.” It’s designed to streamline tasks like writing, research, summarizing information, and productivity workflows using large language models.

Some commentators have begun comparing Copilot’s trajectory to Internet Explorer, which was once dominant but later criticized and overtaken by rivals.

Those comparisons largely focus on how aggressively both products are pushed by Microsoft. Looking at why Internet Explorer eventually faltered, issues like performance, standards support, and user backlash help evaluate whether Copilot could face similar risks around adoption, satisfaction, and competition.

What made Internet Explorer fall?

Internet Explorer (IE) was once the dominant web browser, bundled with Windows and widely used. Over time, it lagged in performance, security, and support for modern standards compared to rivals like Chrome and Firefox.

Developers stopped optimizing for it, and users migrated to faster, more secure alternatives. Microsoft eventually replaced it with Edge, signaling the end of IE’s relevance.

The IE decline shows that market leadership can erode if products don’t evolve. Copilot’s future could hinge on similar factors if it fails to stay competitive.

Copilot’s deep integration everywhere

Microsoft has integrated Copilot deeply across its ecosystem, including Windows 11, Microsoft 365 apps, Bing, and Edge, similar to how Internet Explorer was tightly bundled with Windows. This design is meant to make AI assistance feel ever-present and convenient.

Growing user and enterprise backlash has focused on the number and placement of Copilot and other AI buttons in Windows 11 experiences, including core apps such as Notepad, Paint, and File Explorer.

Reporting indicates that Microsoft is now reconsidering some of this integration and has discussed scaling back certain AI entry points based on usage data and feedback, rather than simply adding more buttons everywhere.

In parallel, Microsoft has delivered regular Copilot updates, including new agent-style capabilities and additional admin and safety controls for Copilot in Microsoft 365. For some users, though, Copilot still feels intrusive or unnecessary, and its ubiquity recalls the era when Microsoft pushed Internet Explorer deeply into the operating system.

User backlash and dissatisfaction

Recent reporting shows user complaints about Copilot’s updates and functionality. People report slow responses, removed features, poor updates, and software behavior changes that interfere with workflows.

Some forum comments describe frustration and disappointment with Copilot’s evolution. Notable user complaints exist, offset by strong enterprise growth, yet persistent negative sentiment can undermine credibility over time.

Adoption struggles in real world

Microsoft has faced some enterprise hesitancy around Copilot pricing and deployment, but usage growth has been significant. The company now reports around 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, with daily usage up sharply year over year, and says nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 have adopted Copilot in some form.

Reviews and informal tests often find that Copilot excels inside the Microsoft ecosystem, while competing assistants like Google Gemini or standalone ChatGPT can feel stronger for some general research and reasoning tasks, depending on the scenario.

As with Internet Explorer, long-term success will depend on whether Copilot continues to improve speed, reliability, and usefulness relative to rivals. If users perceive competitors as consistently better in day-to-day work, adoption could stagnate or shift elsewhere.

Competitive AI pressures

Copilot faces intense competition from AI tools such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other assistants that are evolving quickly. Reviews and user discussions often compare these services on accuracy, reliability, and ease of use.

In general, Copilot is strongest when it can work directly with Microsoft 365 data in apps like Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams, while competing assistants sometimes earn higher marks for open-ended research, coding help, or general-purpose reasoning—though results vary by task and by reviewer.

If Copilot fails to keep pace technologically or doesn’t meet user expectations in everyday work, users may gravitate toward competitors, limiting its long-term reach despite Microsoft’s distribution advantage.

User control and disabling issues

Many users have expressed frustration that Copilot is embedded deeply in apps and is hard to fully disable. Reports describe inconsistent or partially disabled options, icons that keep reappearing, and complex opt-outs.

This can feel like forced integration rather than user choice. A product users feel stuck with can breed resentment. Internet Explorer’s bundling with Windows raised similar antitrust concerns in the past. If Copilot continues to be seen as unavoidable bloat, that could harm user sentiment.

Privacy and security concerns

Copilot’s access to user documents and workflows raises privacy and security questions among users and IT administrators. Real-world reports include concerns about data indexing, access to sensitive files, and unclear transparency.

Without clear safeguards, Copilot’s deep access may trigger hesitation in enterprise environments. Internet Explorer faced security criticism in its later years, contributing to its decline. If privacy concerns persist, enterprise and consumer trust may erode.

Performance and reliability issues

Some users find Copilot’s performance inconsistent, laggy, inaccurate, or unpredictable, especially with updates. Frustrations include poor responses and functionality that doesn’t match user expectations.

Reliability is central to daily productivity tools; failures can quickly sour opinions. Internet Explorer lost users when it couldn’t match the speed and features of competitors. In the modern landscape, slow or unreliable AI performance could push users elsewhere.

Pricing and enterprise value concerns

Copilot’s enterprise pricing has also been cited as a barrier for some organizations. Paid licensing can be costly, especially for large teams. Some businesses hesitate to commit if ROI isn’t clear. By contrast, many alternatives offer flexible pricing or lower entry costs.

In IE’s era, freely available alternatives like Firefox and Chrome attracted users with better features. If Copilot remains expensive without clear value, adoption may stall.

Potential for evolution and improvement

Despite sustained criticism, Copilot continues to evolve. Microsoft regularly ships new capabilities and integration modes, including premium Microsoft 365 Copilot features such as specialized “Researcher” and “Analyst” experiences and more agent-like workflows for business users.

Recent announcements highlight additions like richer analytics and “insights” views in Copilot experiences, expanded data-loss prevention and compliance controls, and refinements to how Copilot handles context from Microsoft 365 data. These changes are intended to respond to concerns about governance, visibility, and usefulness.

Unlike Internet Explorer, which was widely seen as stagnant for long stretches before its decline, Copilot is still being updated aggressively. If Microsoft continues to respond effectively to user feedback, especially around accuracy, speed, and control, it could shift perceptions over time. Copilot’s trajectory is still very much in flux.

Copilot’s strategic importance to Microsoft

Microsoft’s leadership continues to push Copilot as a core differentiator in productivity and intelligent computing. Satya Nadella has highlighted rapid growth in usage and expansion across services, even amid stock market reactions.

The company sees Copilot as central to its AI strategy, much more so than IE was to Microsoft’s browser strategy. Continued investment and ecosystem integration could strengthen its position if challenges are addressed.

Could Microsoft’s Edge Copilot lead the AI search race? Here’s how Microsoft’s Edge Copilot just outperformed Perplexity in AI search.

IE or something new?

Comparing Copilot to Internet Explorer helps highlight familiar risks: user backlash, strong competition, and fatigue from tightly integrated products that people may not have asked for. At the same time, there are important differences.

Copilot is designed as a cross-workload assistant for writing, meetings, research, and more, and Microsoft is iterating on it much more rapidly than it ever did with Internet Explorer. Whether Copilot repeats IE’s decline will depend on how effectively Microsoft addresses performance, privacy, user control, and competitive pressure.

Today, Copilot benefits from fast-moving feature updates, large AI investments, and Nadella’s positioning of it as Microsoft’s core AI differentiator. If its integration into workflows genuinely saves people time, it could become indispensable; if not, it could face the same long-term erosion IE did. Its path is still uncertain.

How will free o1 AI change the Copilot experience? See how Microsoft enhances Copilot with free o1 AI.

Do you think Copilot will become a forgotten legacy like Internet Explorer or evolve into something indispensable? Share your thoughts.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

Don’t forget to follow us for more exclusive content on MSN.

Read More From This Brand:

• Hey Copilot — Copilot starts listening as it lands on Windows 11
• File Explorer add-ons that transformed my workflow
• Windows 11 search gets smarter with Copilot AI boost