Microsoft and Google’s Real AI Advantage Isn’t Brains — It’s Distribution

I still remember when Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini (it was called Bard back then) first came out. Everyone was curious—could these really compete with ChatGPT? I tried both. They were decent, but if I'm being honest, ChatGPT still felt more reliable for most of my work. Most people I knew felt the same way.​

But then something interesting started happening. Instead of just trying to win on features alone, Microsoft and Google took a different route. They began quietly integrating their AI tools everywhere—Office 365, Azure, Google Workspace, Gmail, Sheets, even GitHub. Suddenly, if you were already paying for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for your team, the AI was just... there. No switching tabs, no copy-pasting between apps, no extra subscriptions to manage.​

And that's when I noticed the shift in my own workflow. Here's something interesting—I have Gemini Pro, Perplexity Pro, and Copilot subscriptions, but I still find myself using Gemini when I'm working in Gmail and Copilot when I'm editing a Word document. It's not that the standalone tools aren't powerful—they absolutely are. But the convenience of having AI baked into the tools I already use daily just makes more sense. I'm not making a conscious decision to "use Copilot today"—it's simply there, helping me draft emails, clean up Excel formulas, and fix grammar without me even thinking about it. I suspect many of us are experiencing the same thing.​

Here's what I find fascinating about this strategy: as more people use these tools in their regular workflows, Microsoft and Google get constant feedback. They're refining the experience, improving the UI, and making it more intuitive with every update. It's a compounding advantage.​

The real win for these companies isn't just surviving the AI wave—it's thriving by focusing on practical, everyday problems. Not everyone needs AI to refactor their entire codebase or build complex systems. But almost everyone needs help fixing grammar, adjusting email tone, generating quick reports, or analysing spreadsheets. Those small, repetitive tasks that eat up hours every week? That's where the real value is.​

What I've learnt from watching this unfold is simple: distribution and integration beat standalone brilliance. When AI becomes part of the infrastructure you already use—not a separate tool you need to remember to open—adoption becomes inevitable.