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Fortune
Fortune
Jeremy Kahn

Microsoft lost its way in the AI race. Can Copilot get it back on course?

(Credit: ILLUSTRATION BY LINCOLN AGNEW; CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: SVEN HOPPE—PICTURE ALLIANCE/GETTY IMAGES; CHIP SOMODEVILLA—GETTY IMAGES; THOMAS BARWICK—GETTY IMAGES; STEFAN WERMUTH—BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES; IMAGE SOURCE—GETTY IMAGES)

Redmond, Washington, mid-January 2026. The weather, cold and gray. It’s the kind of morning the snooze button was built for. But the team of engineers camped out in Building 92 on Microsoft’s sprawling campus got here early. They are in a race. And they are behind.

The team is working on a new AI product, one that functions as a personal assistant, capable of doing everything from booking flights to responding to emails to finding a good local plumber. They know competing teams at other companies are working on similar products. As if they needed a reminder that a lot is riding on their work, Satya Nadella drops by. He wants to show them something.

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