Microsoft rolls out Mico, a new character for Copilot’s voice mode

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Nearly three decades after Clippy, everyone’s favorite (or least favorite) googly-eyed paperclip, made its debut, Microsoft is once again giving digital assistants a personality. 

Meet Mico, the company’s newest attempt to make talking to your computer feel less weird and more adorable.

Back in 1997, Clippy was supposed to help you write letters, but mostly just made you want to uninstall Office. 

Microsoft quietly retired it in 2001, later taking another swing with Cortana on Windows Phone, a digital helper that was more “AI assistant” and less “sentient paperclip.” 

But the tech wasn’t quite there yet. 

Fast-forward to today, and Microsoft is ready to try again with Copilot’s newest voice companion: a bouncy little orb named Mico.

“Mico walked so that we could run,” quips Jacob Andreou, Microsoft’s VP of product and growth at Microsoft AI, though he admits the ghost of Clippy still looms large. 

Mico’s not just a static avatar; it reacts to your tone and emotions in real time. Talk about something sad, and its glowing face droops sympathetically. 

Chat about your weekend, and it practically beams. It’s like Siri, if Siri could blush.

At launch, Mico will only be available in the US, powered by Copilot’s new memory feature, which lets it remember details about you and your projects. 

There’s even a “Learn Live” mode, turning Mico into a digital tutor that guides you through problems Socratically, think less “know-it-all robot,” more “friendly study buddy with a whiteboard.”

Microsoft’s larger goal is to give Copilot an identity, something with presence, personality, maybe even a “room” to live in. 

Mico is at the center of that push, as Microsoft runs TV ads declaring Windows 11 PCs “the computer you can talk to.”

Of course, the real challenge remains: convincing people to actually talk to their computers. But if all else fails, there’s always nostalgia. 

“If you poke Mico very, very quickly,” Andreou teases, “something special may happen.”

Looks like Clippy’s mischievous spirit lives on, this time, in orb form. But that’s not all, you can actually get Mico to transform into Clippy.

Microsoft has included an Easter egg which lets you tap Mico a few times to change it into Clippy.

That alone might draw interest into this new Copilot feature.