Microsoft recruits popular US influencers to promote its Copilot chatbot; Sensor Tower says Copilot has had 99M downloads since launch, far below ChatGPT's 1.4B
Microsoft Corp., eager to boost downloads of its Copilot chatbot, has recruited some of the most popular influencers in America … X: @wallstengine , @rustybrick , and @zephyr_z9 X: @wallstengine : Microsoft $MSFT is now paying lifestyle influencers like Alix Earle to promote Copilot to younger users, as it tries to catch up to ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. Note: Copilot has about 150M monthly active users, compared to ~800M weekly for ChatGPT. [video] Barry Schwartz / @rustybrick : heh - I doubt this will work @zephyr_z9 : The name is stoopid and old
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft positioned Copilot as a consumer-facing ChatGPT alternative when it renamed Bing Chat under the Copilot brand, then extended it to iOS and iPadOS. The new campaign shifts attention from product availability to consumer acquisition.
The push follows evidence that Copilot’s growth had already lagged rival assistants: mobile-download momentum remained weak in July, while reported internal figures showed weekly usage had been flat over the prior year. It also comes as Microsoft has faced difficulty converting enterprise interest into usage when employees prefer ChatGPT.
First-order effects
- Microsoft is adding paid lifestyle-influencer distribution to Copilot’s consumer marketing, targeting younger U.S. users rather than relying solely on product bundling and brand reach.
- The disclosed download and usage gaps put immediate pressure on Copilot’s campaign to produce sustained adoption, not just awareness, relative to ChatGPT.
Second-order effects
- Google’s Gemini and other assistant providers have a clearer incentive to compete for consumer attention through branding, creator partnerships, and simpler product positioning as chatbot choice becomes a mainstream consumer market.
- If the campaign draws users but does not improve repeat use, Microsoft will face sharper scrutiny over whether broad distribution can overcome the product and preference gap also visible in enterprise customer adoption.
Third-order effects
- Consumer AI assistants are increasingly competing on distribution and habit formation, not only model capabilities; providers with established default channels or stronger consumer brands may compound their lead.
- The outcome will help test whether a general-purpose assistant can be repositioned through creator-led marketing, or whether durable share depends primarily on being embedded in the user’s existing work and device environment.
The trend: The story is one data point in the shift from launching AI chatbots to competing for durable consumer distribution, daily habits, and assistant-default status.