Microsoft is back with a new round of ads that show people chatting with Copilot AI on their computers. This time, the ad has a holiday theme, even including an appearance from Santa Claus. The 30-second TV spot asks if you’re “ready for the holidays” and features actors in various holiday-themed home settings asking Copilot for help with everything from holiday lighting and cooking to oversized outdoor decorations.
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In the new ad, Copilot offers to help a homeowner make their smart home more festive when they ask, “Show me how to sync my Christmas lights to my music.” The user clicks on cloud-connected lighting controls on a website called Relecloud, as Copilot says, “Let’s do this together.” The ad cuts to the house’s lights flashing to the classic Christmas song “A-Punk” by Vampire Weekend.
Relecloud is not a well-known smart home company like Philips Hue or Govee. In fact, it’s not a real business at all. It’s one of the fictional companies that Microsoft uses in published case studies (see also: Contoso).
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Nicci Trovinger, Windows’ general manager of marketing, tells The Verge, “All Copilot responses are actual responses that Copilot gave to the scenarios presented and the questions asked at a specific time. The responses were shortened to fit the length of the ad, in accordance with standard advertising practices.”
In tests, however, Copilot often said it had highlighted something when it hadn't and imagined a green "Apply" button, which was actually just the default color for green lighting.
Copilot's responses were equally confusing for a fully-featured app for Philips Hue lights. It imagined buttons that weren't there, directed me to Entertainment Zones, and kept saying it had highlighted things on the screen when it hadn't.
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Copilot's cursor highlighting feature is useful, but it usually only does it when you ask for it — and it's painfully slow to respond. It often stays on screen long after Copilot has moved on to other tips.
