Earlier this month, Microsoft said that wanted to add improved voice control to Copilota built-in chatbot virtual assistant in Windows 11. As described, this new version of Copilot looks a lot like another blow to Cortana, the voice assistant that Microsoft tried (and failed) to get people to use on Windows 10 in the mid-to-late 2010s.
It turns out the company isn't done trying to reformulate and revive ideas it's tried before. As part of its push toward what it calls “human-centered artificial intelligence,” Microsoft is now put the co-pilot's face on. Literally a face: “Miko” is an “expressive, customizable and warm” blob with a face that dynamically “listens, reacts and even changes colors to reflect your interactions” as you interact with Copilot. (Another important adjective for Miko: “optional.”)
Miko (rhymes with pico) remembers old digital assistants like Clippy, Microsoft Bob and Roverideas that Microsoft tried in the '90s and early 2000s before largely abandoning them.
Microsoft clearly believes that supporting these ideas with language and/or logic models will help Copilot succeed where Cortana and Clippy failed. One of the reasons why these assistants were considered more annoying than useful is that they could respond to a limited number of possible inputs or situations and were not even helpful. those most of the time because they could only respond to a small number of context clues. I don't have hard evidence of this, but I'm willing to bet that the experience of rejecting Clippy's “Looks like you're writing a letter!” the tips are almost universal among PC users of a certain age.
