Think of Clippy, Microsoft’s iconic Office assistant, with quirky AI chops. Voila, you get a new AI friend called Mico. The company has announced a range of new features and updates for its AI chatbot.
Mico — a nod to “Microsoft Copilot” — is a “customisable” visual presence that “listens, reacts, and even changes colours to reflect your interactions”.
“It helps you think, plan, and dream, but always on your terms. It adapts to your needs and context, remembers what matters to you, and learns from your feedback. And it looks out for your interests. As we build this, we’re not chasing engagement or optimising for screen time,” wrote Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. Mico has competition.
Mico will, at the moment, be available in the US, and the new virtual character will rely on a new memory feature inside Copilot to offer facts it has learned about you and the things you’re working on.
According to The Verge, Microsoft is also adding a Learn Live mode to Mico that will turn the character into a Socratic tutor that “guides you through concepts instead of just giving answers”. On paper, Mico appears more capable than Clippy or Cortana. And like the old Microsoft friends, Mico will also have its own Easter eggs in a renewed effort to get people to talk to an AI assistant.
Microsoft disabled Clippy by default with the release of Office XP in 2001 and removed the assistant entirely in 2007. As for adding a visual element to AI assistants, xAI’s Grok has risqué AI companions.