It’s been nearly 30 years since Microsoft’s Office assistant, “Clippy”, first appeared on our screens as an annoying paperclip. After Clippy’s annoyances ended in a Groucho-brow-like trend with the release of “Office XP” in 2001, Microsoft has been trying to revive the assistant spirit with Cortana on Windows Phone. The technology wasn’t all that popular a decade ago, but now Microsoft is ready to try again with “Mico”, a new character in Copilot’s AI voice mode.
Mico is a voice assistant that promises to be “expressive, customizable, and warm,” – Microsoft says. It changes colors to reflect the interactions, which sounds somewhat like a mood ring for your computer. A variety of conversation styles can help you find the one you enjoy most, or you can disable Mico if you need a break.
For more emotional support, Mico can engage in “real talk”, a “collaborative model that challenges assumptions with care, adapts to your vibe, and helps conversations spark growth and connection,” – Microsoft says. Copilot can now support group conversations with up to 32 participants, with tools for breaking up tasks and voting on decisions.
Microsoft has been testing Mico (rhymes with “pico”) for a few months now, as a virtual character that responds with real-time expressions when you talk to it. Mico is now being turned on by default in Copilot’s voice mode, where you’ll also have the option to turn the bouncing orb off.
Mico is all part of a goal to give Copilot an identity, as Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman alluded to earlier this year. “Copilot will certainly have a kind of permanent identity, a presence, and it will have a room that it lives in, and it will age,” said Suleyman in July.
“Copilot is designed to be empathetic and supportive, not sycophantic,” explains a blog post attributed to Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman. “It will push back on you sometimes, but always respectfully.”
Microsoft also introduced “learn live”, a teaching mode that turns Mico into an interactive tutor that walks users through problems step by step with whiteboards and visual aids.
Copilot will also have more context about your life and work with connectors that let you link services, such as “OneDrive”, “Outlook”, “Gmail”, “Google Drive”, and “Google Calendar”. The AI could then answer questions about your inbox, for example, or unearth documents, emails, and events.
Microsoft’s Copilot Mode got an update in “Edge” called “Journeys”. It aims to make you more comfortable closing tabs, because it remembers your past browsing “journey” and can bring you back once you’re ready to pick back up again.
The rollout begins in the United States, the UK, and Canada at the moment.
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