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“ACCC has taken this very seriously and even hinted at legal action over this pricing issue. So yes, this kind of pressure, from both the government and users who are paying for your product, has put a lot of pressure on Microsoft,” he said. “Australia’s consumer laws are strict, probably some of the toughest across the globe and companies usually take complaints seriously because there they have to. When you have millions of users, who are not satisfied with your product’s pricing and the regulator is also involved, a small statement not enough. Accepting your fault and offering refunds sounds more genuine, even if it is mainly about managing perception.” Call for transparency The Microsoft Australia case highlights another broader trend of the software vendors increasingly embedding AI capabilities into core products and using that as a rationale for price increases or new premium tiers. For instance, in January this year, Google announced it was including Google AI in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans, making it a foundational part of the service rather than an optional add-on. Vendors justify this cost increase citing AI features requiring greater compute, model maintenance, cloud infrastructure, data-processing resources and ongoing innovation. But it has significant impact on enterprise IT budgets and SaaS renewal cycles.
