Microsoft Develops Copilot Virtual Character

Microsoft is introducing an animated virtual character of its Copilot chatbot. 

Why It Hits: More and more tech giants are trying to figure out a way to anthropomorphize AI — whether that’s Microsoft with Copilot, Meta’s various chatbot experiments, or X with its NSFW characters — in an effort to move past text and simple audio as the way customers interact with the technology.

Behind the Code: Growing up, millennials had Clippy. Gen Alpha will have Copilot (expect a nickname soon enough).

• Copilot’s new Appearance feature makes the chatbot resemble a ball of marshmallow fluff that has big eyes and a smile.
• Microsoft says it’s a new way to converse with the chatbot, and it’s “powered by real-time expressions, voice, and conversational memory” — it can smile, nod, and even react with surprise to a query.
• Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s AI CEO, said on The Colin & Samir Show that the chatbot “will age” with its users and will “have a room that it lives in” (perhaps like an Animal Crossing sort of thing?).

The Future: Copilot Appearance is being tested with users in the US, UK, and Canada, and Microsoft intends to roll out the feature gradually to avoid some of the controversies that have plagued companies like Meta, X, and CharacterAI. If it can be entertaining, helpful, and safe, it really could weasel its way into our culture the way Clippy did all those years ago.

Prediction: If Fluffy (our working title for Appearance) really does “age” with the user, prepare for the kid in your life to migrate the chatbot across devices for years to come — a constant revenue stream for Microsoft.