Less than a year on, Microsoft tells Mico to pipe down

Microsoft has removed Mico, the anthropomorphic assistant introduced less than a year ago as the face of Copilot Voice, and will repurpose the character for Learn Live, a voice-based study mode. The company confirmed the change as part of merging its consumer and work Copilot applications, stating that Mico's learnings about warmth and expressiveness are shaping Copilot's future. Mico joins a long line of retired Microsoft assistants, including Clippy and Cortana.

Less than a year on, Microsoft tells Mico to pipe down Source: The Register https://www.theregister.com Copilot's gurning blob is leaving Voice for a new career in education Microsoft has yanked Mico from the Copilot /compare/github-copilot-vs-cursor spotlight less than a year after unveiling the anthropomorphic assistant intended to make its AI a little less soulless. As part of Microsoft's announcement that its consumer and work Copilot applications will merge, the company confirmed that the weird blob thing would shuffle out of Copilot Voice and into Learn Live, a voice-based study mode that guides users through subjects and assignments. "Mico helped us learn about warmth, expressiveness, and how people want to talk with AI," Microsoft wrote. "Those learnings are shaping Copilot going forward." "Learn is where the character has the most room to grow, with tutoring sessions that give Mico more to react to and teach through." As the update rolls out, Mico will no longer be the face of Copilot Voice. Users can still speak to Copilot and receive responses, but will be spared the blob's gurning. Mico is only the latest in Microsoft's long line of anthropomorphic assistants. There was Clippy or Clippit , which arrived with Office 97 but had been pushed into Microsoft's desk drawer of doom by the time Office 2007 appeared. Then came Cortana, named after the character from the Halo video game franchise and pitched as a far more intelligent assistant. Microsoft introduced Cortana on Windows Phone in 2014 and brought it to PCs with Windows 10 the following year, before losing interest. Mico didn't even last a year as the face of Copilot Voice before Microsoft pulled it from the spotlight, although both the character and its Copilot "brain" live on in Learn Live. In terms of lifespans, it's easy to compare it to the catastrophic Microsoft Bob, which was launched in 1995, with the last release happening that same year. However, the product lingered a little longer and later resurfaced, hidden as digital ballast on the Windows XP installation CD for licensing and encryption. Modern digital distribution means that such a second life is unlikely to await Mico. Dave Plummer, the engineer responsible for Bob's inclusion as an encrypted blob, said: "What's ultimately important is that while Bob never got to play on the big stage, he always followed the band around and got to ride on the bus." Mico hasn't been thrown off the bus just yet. Microsoft has merely made the blob sit with the schoolchildren. ®Get AI news in your inbox Daily digest of what matters in AI.