By Jeremy Bowman
Publication Date: 2026-04-03 18:20:00
Microsoft (MSFT +1.01%) was an early winner in the AI boom. Its partnership with OpenAI put it in the pole position after ChatGPT launched in late 2022.
However, more than three years later, Microsoft is looking like a laggard in AI. Copilot, its AI assistant, has received broad criticism for its high price tag, relatively poor performance, and low adoption rate, evidence that Microsoft squandered the advantage it had with its partnership with OpenAI.
This year, Microsoft stock has tumbled on fears that its enterprise software empire could be disrupted by AI-native products, using new tools like Anthropic’s Claude Code.
Year-to-date, the stock is down 23%, and it’s off by more than a third from its peak. With a market cap below $3 trillion, Microsoft’s share price has not been this low since 2023, with the exception of a brief drop following the Liberation Day tariffs announcement a year ago.
Microsoft’s slide has come even as the business has continued to deliver strong results….
