Microsoft killed the enthusiastic office assistant Clippy about 17 years ago, but the vision of a friendly and optimistic AI assistant has apparently found its way out of the Recycle Bin. The company is revamping Copilot, the text-based artificial intelligence tool included with Windows and other software, with the addition of vision, voice and the ability to solve more complex problems, along with a more “encouraging” personality.
“We’re really at this amazing transition point,” says Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. “AI companions now see what we see, hear what we hear, and speak the same language we use to communicate with each other.”
So far, Copilot has received a mixed response: some users whining of delay or vagueness in its responses, but Microsoft is betting that the tool could eventually become an integral part of Windows, Office, and more. By embedding OpenAI’s AI algorithms in software used by hundreds of millions of people, the company is also at the forefront of testing the potential of AI to increase productivity in office work. Google, a big rival, is also introducing AI into office apps like Gmail and Google Docs.
The new Copilot will be able to converse with users with multiple human-like voices, handling interruptions and pauses naturally. “You can interrupt in the middle of the flow and you can also actively listen,” Suleyman says. “And that’s the art of a good conversation.”
Suleyman adds that Copilot has also been modified to offer more emotional support to users. “He’s on your team, he’s got your back, he’s your hype,” he says. Copilot Voice will be available starting today in English for users in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, with more countries to follow, the company says.
Microsoft’s helper Clippy, an anthropomorphized paper clip, was best known for appearing when users opened Word with the infamous line “It looks like you’re writing a letter…” The product was unpopular; Microsoft concluded This was partly because the program failed to deliver on the human intelligence it promised, forgetting about user preferences and repeating itself endlessly. Large language models are much better at imitating human intelligence, but their behavior can still be strange and unpredictable, which may be a factor in Copilot’s popularity.
Copilot Voice will be available in the free version of Copilot for Windows, which is also available in a standalone mobile app and via the web.
Microsoft is also introducing some more experimental updates to Copilot, which will be limited to those who pay for a $20 per month Copilot Pro subscription. An optional feature called Copilot Vision will allow the AI assistant to see users’ screens and react to things they point to with the cursor. Suleyman says a user can point to a product, for example, and ask Copilot to offer an opinion based on reviews gathered from the web.
“One of the things that seems to be most common is for people to ask for aesthetic advice,” Suleyman says. “They’re on a fashion website and they say, ‘What’s the name of that pattern?’ What do you call that dress?