#521
Tap Tap...Copilot
Published:
Jan 08, 2024
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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Microsoft announced the addition of a new AI Copilot button to the Windows keyboard, the first change to this keyboard since 1994. The button will sit right of the space bar, and the first devices with the new button will be available this month. The shortcut is designed to help users quickly access AI Copilot functionalities, and is testament to the company’s commitment to integrating AI into its core ecosystem of products.
The addition of the AI Copilot button marks a first step in “the year of the AI PC” (2024), where AI is brought to users not only via software and chatbots but exposed through hardware. As a launch key, the AI Copilot button is envisioned to be the entryway to AI services, which Microsoft has been building into some of its most popular products including Office, Bing search and Windows.
This news comes as Microsoft launched its Copilot app on Android and iOS over the holiday season, and has already seen 1.5m cumulative downloads globally, according to TechCrunch. With Copilot, access to GPT-4 is free, and the app’s image creation runs on DALL-E 3. Prior to this, Copilot had already been available on the web, but this push to mobile will help Microsoft reach a bigger audience with a potentially different use case.
As AI expands beyond PC software into hardware and mobile, its proliferation into consumers’ everyday life seems inevitable, and one could only guess at the number of times this AI Copilot button will get pressed every day. Before long, consumers may truly be just one tap away from their dreams.
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