Microsoft Copilot is experiencing a significant global service outage. The disruption impacts the flagship artificial intelligence assistant across its standalone platform and its critical integration within Microsoft 365 applications.
The outage affects widely used productivity tools like Word, Excel, and Teams. Users first reported the issue on Tuesday morning, December 9. The outage tracking service Down Detector later confirmed the widespread disruption.
The official Microsoft 365 Status account on X (formerly Twitter) also verified the service issue. Users attempting to access Copilot services encountered a generic error message.
The message read, “Sorry I wasn’t able to respond to that, is there something else I can help with?” This indicates a systemic failure preventing the AI from processing requests.
Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant, has been hit by a major outage https://t.co/xevmamfr4s
— The Independent (@Independent) December 9, 2025Microsoft has not yet announced an official root cause for the outage. However, technology experts suggest several possible reasons. These include a problematic software update or configuration change, a critical infrastructure failure, overwhelming demand, a cascade failure, or a potential security incident.
This incident occurs amid heightened regulatory scrutiny of major tech firms’ AI operations. For instance, The Guardian reported that the European Union is currently investigating Google’s use of online content to train its AI models. Such outages highlight the operational risks and dependencies created by centralised AI services.
Microsoft engineers are likely working to restore service. The company will provide updates on its official status page as the investigation progresses and a resolution is implemented.
