Microsoft faces scrutiny over AI spending as Copilot adoption lags

In brief: Microsoft will reveal its quarterly financial results on Wednesday, and it might not be a high point for the Redmond giant. Analysts expect Microsoft to report its slowest quarterly revenue growth in a year, and once again there are concerns about how much money the company is investing in AI when the demand and returns aren't justifying its outlay.

Microsoft has invested around $13 billion in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI since 2019, but we've been hearing reports since April that investors are concerned that reaping the financial rewards is taking longer than expected.

Reuters reports that Morgan Stanley analysts say there is a "wall of worry" around Microsoft's earnings due to "ramping capital expenditures, margin compression, lack of evidence on AI returns, and messiness post a financial resegmentation."

One of the biggest AI-related disappointments for Microsoft is Copilot. The company has been pushing its AI tools incredibly ...