Microsoft is revamping its Copilot personal AI assistant with a new design and features including a daily news summary, natural voice interactions, and the ability for the AI to act as a companion when browsing the web.
The release points to its larger vision for consumer artificial intelligence services under Mustafa Suleyman, the DeepMind co-founder and former Google vice president who was named CEO of Microsoft AI earlier this year.
“We are not creating a static tool so much as establishing a dynamic, emergent, and evolving interaction. It will provide you with unwavering support to help you show up the way you really want in your everyday life, a new means of facilitating human connections and accomplishments alike,” Suleyman wrote Tuesday morning.
Microsoft faces the difficult challenge of standing out in a field where core AI features are becoming table stakes, competing against the likes of Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and ChatGPT, from its partner, OpenAI.
But as with its separate Microsoft 365 Copilot service for businesses, the company has the advantage of leveraging its existing platforms to fuel Copilot adoption for personal use. Copilot is accessible from the Windows taskbar, as well as dedicated hardware keys on new Windows laptops and keyboards, and in the sidebar of Microsoft’s Edge browser.
Microsoft is rolling out the revamped Copilot personal interface and new features starting today in its apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and the Copilot web portal.
Two new features stand out:
- Copilot Voice is designed for smoother and more fluid back-and-forth conversations, with faster responses and the ability for users to interrupt and redirect the discussion.
- Copilot Daily is an audio feature that gives users a personalized daily briefing, including news, weather, and other information to start their day.
In addition, the company says it’s launching Copilot Labs, which will give users access to experimental features before they’re widely released. Two features were announced under this umbrella:
- Copilot Vision lets the AI assistant see and interpret the content on the screen on a PC in real-time, providing assistance and suggestions. (This is similar to a new AI model announced by the Allen Institute for AI last week.)
- Think Deeper is a mode designed to handle more complex questions. It takes extra time to provide detailed answers for difficult situations such as comparing different options or dilemmas faced by the user.
Microsoft is making Copilot Labs available to users of its $20/month Copilot Pro subscription service.
The company also made a series of announcements related to new Copilot+ PCs, including improved Windows search capabilities, the ability to upscale image resolution in the Photos app, and a preview of a feature called “Click to Do,” which puts an overlay on the screen to suggest quick actions that the user can take.
The flagship feature of Copilot+ PCs, Recall, was delayed due to privacy and security concerns, which the company sought to address in an announcement last week. Recall is now slated to roll out to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs in October, and on new Intel- and AMD-powered Copilot+ PCs in November.
https://ift.tt/Ue7maf0 October 01, 2024 at 02:08PM GeekWire
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