Microsoft made a comeback to the Super Bowl on Sunday with a commercial for its AI-powered chatbot, highlighting the company's resolve to shake off its reputation as a stuffy software developer and refocus its offerings on the potential of artificial intelligence.
The one-minute ad, which was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday of last week, shows users accessing Copilot, the AI assistant that Microsoft released a year ago, via their smartphones. The app can be seen helping users in automating a range of tasks, including generating computer code snippets and creating digital artwork.
Microsoft's Super Bowl commercial, which marked the company's first appearance in the game in four years, showcased its efforts to reposition itself as an AI-focused company. The IT behemoth has invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 alone, and it has put billions more into refining its AI skills. The technology has also been incorporated into staples like Microsoft Word, Excel, and Azure.
The tech giant now wants customers and companies looking for an AI boost to use its services instead of rivals like Google, which on Thursday revealed an update to its AI program.
Wedbush Securities Analyst Dan Ives told CBS MoneyWatch that the outcome of the AI race will have a significant impact on multinational tech businesses, as the industry is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2032. "This is no longer your grandfather's Microsoft … and the Super Bowl is a unique time to further change perceptions," he stated.
For 30 seconds of airtime during this year's game, advertisers paid over $7 million, with over 100 million viewers predicted.
In a blog post last week, Microsoft Consumer Chief Marketing Officer Yusuf Mehdi announced that the Copilot app is receiving an update "coinciding with the launch of our Super Bowl ad." The update includes a "cleaner, sleeker look" and suggested prompts that could help users take advantage of the app's AI capabilities.
Thus far, Microsoft's strategy has proven successful. Its cloud-based revenue increased by 24% to $33.7 billion in the most recent quarter, aided by the incorporation of AI into its Azure cloud computing service.