Microsoft brings cartoon character Mico to AI assistant

Microsoft has announced it wants to add better voice control to Copilot, Windows 11's built-in virtual assistant and chatbot.

This new version of Copilot sounds a lot like another shot at Cortana, the voice assistant that Microsoft tried (and failed) to get people to use on Windows 10 in the mid-to-late 2010s.

Mico's face was just introduced by Microsoft in the Copilot update

It turns out the company isn't done retooling and resurrecting previously tried-and-tested ideas. As part of its push toward what it calls "human-centered AI," Microsoft is now adding a face to Copilot.

It's literally a face: "Mico" is an "expressive, customizable" block with a face that can "listen, react, and even change color to reflect the user's interactions" with Copilot.

Mico is reminiscent of old digital assistants like Clippy, Microsoft Bob, and Rover, ideas Microsoft tried in the 90s and early 2000s before mostly abandoning them.

Microsoft clearly thinks that supporting these ideas with language models and/or reasoning will help Copilot succeed where both Cortana and Clippy failed.

Part of the reason these assistants are seen as annoying rather than helpful is because they can only respond to a finite number of possible inputs or situations, and they aren't even helpful in those situations because they can only respond to a handful of contextual clues.

Mico's two "predecessors" failed for various reasons.

When powered by large language models, the number of situations these assistants can respond to is limitless—at least in theory—and they will be able to adjust what they offer based on context.

Whether the results Copilot and Mico produce are useful or even accurate is another question, but so far that hasn't been an issue that's hindered Microsoft's efforts to bring Copilot to all Windows, Office, and Edge users.

Mico is just one component of the “human-centric AI” built into the Fall Release of Copilot. Microsoft is also adding Copilot Groups, a chatbot that can interact with groups of up to 32 people at once.

There's also a Memory & Personalization setting, which gives users more options to have Copilot "remember" context from previous conversations.

Finally, “Copilot for health” aims to improve answers to healthcare-related questions by “drawing on trusted sources like Harvard Health” and “helping you find the right doctor quickly and confidently, connecting based on specialty, location, language, and other preferences.”

Microsoft says all of these updates will be available to Copilot users in the US, with the UK, Canada, and elsewhere rolling out in the coming weeks.