Forum Discussion
Microsoft's Copilot: A Frustrating Flop in AI-Powered Productivity
I tried Copilot for the first time yesterday, figured I'd give it a shot.
I opened the prompt in Outlook, and told it I wanted a list of all upcoming events for a specific calendar, because I wanted to delete them.
Here the disappointment begins:
- It proceeded to ask me to provide additional information about the calendar. I answered the calendar was open in the very same window I was writing to it from.
- It told me I could use a filter in Outlook, export the calendar to a file and filter it in Excel or use Powershell.
- When I told it the filter did not work, it proceeded to recommend using the Change View button, which does not exist in the new Outloop app.
- It then doubled down on the export and Powershell solutions.
- At this point, I had to mention these methods were not suitable, as I wanted to delete these events in bulk. Granted, I previously forgot to give it this important bit of information.
- It suggested to use the Outlook for Web app, which also did not have the Change View button.
I had to resort to Powershell. It started by churning out code using the EWS managed API. It just assumed I had that installed, didn't even provide information on installation.
When I said I preferred to use Microsoft's Graph API, it asked me to install the MSAL.PS module and do a ton of custom auth and REST requests code, instead of using the ready-made Microsoft.Graph Powershell modules.
Then, the code provided for Microsoft.Graph cmdlets of course didn't work. I tried troubleshooting with it for a bit, but it eventually told me to use the "Get-MgMeCalendar" cmdlet.
That's when I realized that it wasn't afraid to flat-out make up false information on the fly. I gave up trying to get anything useful out of this absolute joke of an assistant.
May I ask which version of Copilot you used to accomplish your objective?
- Microsoft 365 Copilot (requires an additional license with your Microsoft 365 Corporate Subscription)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat (Free Edition included in your Microsoft 365 Corporate Subscription)
- Copilot (included in your Family Subscription)
- Copilot Pro (requires an additional license with your Family Subscription)
- FredRonSep 19, 2025Copper Contributor
How can I find that information?
I have a M365 Business Standard license. According to https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/microsoft-365/business/microsoft-365-business-standard, Copilot isn't included.
But Copilot is integrated in the new Outlook app. Copilot itself tells me that Copilot Chat is included in M365 Business Standard, but that contradicts the aforementioned reference.