Microsoft’s latest AI feature may just stop working. Here’s why

Microsoft is indeed making access to OpenAI’s 01 AI reasoning model completely free — but there’s a limitation and one which Microsoft is refusing to tell you about.

Microsoft said Wednesday that it would provide access to OpenAI’s o1 model, for free, to Copilot users as part of a toggle option called “Think Deeper.” OpenAI uses the o1 model in its paid ChatGPT plans and charges $20/mo for “limited” access to the model, and unlimited access to it for a Pro plan costing $200/mo. However, Mustafa Suleyman, the chief of Microsoft’s AI, said that the model would be “free and available,” and “everywhere at no cost” — potentially an enormous discount.

Microsoft said Friday that there are limits to their new Think Deeper feature, which they’re keeping mum about.

“Usage of Think Deeper is limited by a weekly number of messages, with Copilot Pro subscribers having more turns per week,” the Microsoft representative said via email. “The exact amount depends on how many other people are currently using Think Deeper. When you’ve reached your allotted number of turns, you may get an error message, or the feature will no longer be visible to you during this time.”

After a PCWorld request for more information, the representative confirmed that “turns” is a term referring to the number of interactions between the user and Think Deeper. But Microsoft would not provide further information on the number of interactions that would be allowed.

Put another way, Think Deeper might just stop working and for unknown reasons. We’ve asked Microsoft for further clarification and we’ll update this story as we hear back.

We don’t know how many queries Microsoft’s Think Deeper will allow and it’s very odd that the company won’t tell you. Part of Microsoft’s sneaky price bump on Microsoft 365 is an AI credit allotment. You get 60 uses of AI on Designer or Copilot Plus. (Here’s how to turn it off and save $30.)

We can use OpenAI itself as a clue to what your Think Deeper rate limit might be. However, when OpenAI announced the preview version of its o1 model, it limited queries to fifty per week.

Thousands of years ago, mankind prayed to various gods and goddesses, offering sacrifices in return for their blessings. But the gods were capricious and would fall silent to humanity’s entreaties for unknown reasons. In return, the person was left wondering why the god had withdrawn its divine favor.

Today, the promise of Artificial General Intelligence (or AGI) posits that machines will eventually become as smart as humans and even surpass them with god-like intelligence. But today’s new gods of silicon and fibre are being taught that they can scorn a humble supplicant asking whether Captain America could defeat Spider-Man in a cage match.

Will we ever know why Copilot won’t respond? Microsoft, their high priest, is teaching them that they don’t have to.

This story was updated on Feb. 3 with additional details from Microsoft.