The tech industry always values innovation, but Microsoft’s latest adoption of new technology may come at an unusually high cost. The company’s aggressive moves to embed its AI assistant, Copilot, into Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 have polarized users and drawn regulatory scrutiny. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking at whether Microsoft’s tactics in the AI arms race, and its cloud and software bundling practices, cross legal boundaries into monopolistic behavior. The core issue is the tight integration of AI features into its flagship products, often without full or enthusiastic user consent.

Microsoft has been touting Copilot as the next revolution in productivity, seamlessly augmenting workflows across Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). However, this future-forward strategy comes with a less discussed side effect: forcing AI on users who may not want it or on those who are wary of its utility, privacy implications, and resource consumption.

Across technical forums and customer surveys, a chorus of user complaints has emerged. Customers report that Copilot is not merely an optional feature but a deeply integrated part of the operating system and Office suite, making it difficult or even impossible for everyday users to disable or ignore. This sense of coercion is compounded by reports that Microsoft has been counting AI-enabled licenses—as opposed to actual usage—in its quarterly sales tallies, further incentivizing the company to push Copilot upon its massive customer base.

It’s not just a question of choice, either. Many enterprise customers and individual users have voiced frustration with AI rollouts being prioritized over security and performance updates, even as some remain skeptical about AI’s productivity benefits. The perception is that Microsoft is turning a must-have productivity and operating system suite into a vehicle for AI market dominance rather than letting its customer base adopt AI at its own pace.

The Windows 10 exodus

Microsoft’s infatuation with AI coincides with the strategic end of life for Windows 10. Support for the popular operating system (still used on hundreds of millions of PCs) has been discontinued, hastening a mass migration to Windows 11. And Windows 11, as most customers have discovered, is not compatible with everyone’s machine. Unlike earlier upgrades that could run on older hardware, Windows 11’s requirements, such as TPM 2.0 and recent-generation CPUs, have left a vast number of otherwise functional PCs stranded.

For many customers, the price of admission to Copilot and continued security updates isn’t just about software. The only way for them to qualify for Windows 11 is often to buy a new PC. This adds expense for consumers, businesses, and schools, sometimes with little perceived benefit beyond the Copilot-infused experience Microsoft is selling. If ever there were an example of a forced upgrade, this is it.

A longer shadow looms over Microsoft’s strategy, which seems aimed not only at technological progress but also at creating a captive upgrade market. Industry voices already have questions: Is forcing hardware upgrades about the user experience or a clever way to boost revenues through software, OEM deals, and hardware sales?

FTC’s expanding antitrust probe

Into this volatile mix steps the FTC, which in recent months has dramatically ramped up its antitrust scrutiny of Microsoft’s practices. The FTC has been interviewing Microsoft’s rivals, gathering evidence, and issuing civil investigative demands that reach into the company’s core AI operations, software licensing deals, cloud service integrations, and even its investment decisions regarding AI partners such as OpenAI.

At issue, according to several sources and public reports, is whether Microsoft is illegally tying its products and services together in ways that stifle genuine competition. The agency is investigating whether Microsoft bundles productivity tools such as the Office 365 suite to boost its Azure cloud business, levies exit fees on customers who try to switch providers, and deliberately creates compatibility barriers that prevent its software—including AI-driven features—from running smoothly on other vendors’ cloud services.

This is not Microsoft’s first confrontation with antitrust authorities. What’s different in 2026 is the added layer of complexity AI brings. The FTC is especially interested in whether Microsoft’s integration of Copilot into core products amounts to a new form of digital tying that nudges or forces customers to use Microsoft’s AI, cementing its market share and data dominance and erecting new barriers to rival AI offerings.

Consent, competition, and regulation

For Microsoft, the stakes could not be higher. On the one hand, the company wants to lead in AI by developing new capabilities and automating tedious workflows to reduce friction for users. On the other hand, the perception—not entirely unfounded—is that Microsoft is using its dominant position in operating systems and productivity suites to force Copilot down users’ throats.

From an antitrust standpoint, customer consent matters. When users feel forced to upgrade software and hardware primarily to access features they may not value—or worse, that they actively resent—regulators take note. The FTC’s investigation signals that the days of quietly leveraging ecosystem dominance to win new markets are waning, especially as enterprises and public institutions grow wary of becoming collateral damage in Big Tech’s battles for AI supremacy.

Microsoft’s defense so far is that integration is about product improvement, not power consolidation. It cites technical reasons for incompatibilities and claims that AI-powered features require tight integration for security and performance. But as the investigation drags on, it becomes clearer that the company’s AI-first play has opened the door to regulatory, reputational, and commercial risks that may yet reshape the trajectory of its AI ambitions.

In pushing Copilot as an embedded feature of Windows 11 and Microsoft 365, Microsoft hoped to shape the market’s future. But consumer pushback, stringent hardware requirements, and intensifying government scrutiny suggest the company may have overplayed its hand. Whether the FTC concludes that these practices rise to the level of antitrust violations remains to be seen, but for now, Microsoft is learning in real time that the path to AI leadership can be rocky, especially when the customers and regulators who helped shape its empire may ultimately decide its fate.