Microsoft Copilot V2 Introduces Human-Like Voice Capabilities, Challenging AI Competitors

Microsoft Copilot V2 AI Voice Update Released

Microsoft has unveiled a significant update to its Copilot V2, introducing a groundbreaking neural voice feature that transforms the AI chat interface. This update aims to deliver a more human-like interaction, rivaling the advanced voice modes found in other leading AI platforms. The rollout, available to both free and paid users, follows a tiered approach, with free accounts potentially having limited access. Although still in its early stages, this feature represents a big leap forward in the realm of conversational AI, setting the stage for a new era of seamless human-machine communication. The neural voice feature is carefully designed to closely mimic human conversation, offering users an unparalleled interaction experience. This development is particularly crucial in an era where users increasingly expect natural and fluid communication with AI systems. By seamlessly integrating this feature, Microsoft positions Copilot V2 as a formidable competitor to other platforms like ChatGPT, underscoring the intense competition in the field of AI voice technology, where human-like interaction is rapidly becoming the norm. Rigorous testing of the new voice feature reveals both its immense potential and its current limitations. Users can engage in general knowledge queries and conversational interruptions, although response times may vary. These tests are vital for understanding how the feature performs in real-world scenarios and identifying areas for improvement. As the technology continues to evolve, users can anticipate enhancements that address these initial limitations, paving the way for an even more seamless and responsive AI interaction. Looking ahead, Microsoft has ambitious plans to integrate AI co-browsing capabilities within the Microsoft Edge browser. This groundbreaking feature has the potential to transform the way users interact with the internet, offering a more interactive and guided browsing experience. Such advancements underscore the immense potential of AI to transform work processes, making them more efficient, intuitive, and accessible to a wider audience. Here are a selection of other articles from our extensive library of content you may find of interest on the subject of AI voice tools : Microsoft places a strong emphasis on accessibility, ensuring that the new voice feature is inclusive and beneficial to a diverse user base. By prioritizing accessibility, Microsoft aims to democratize AI technology, making it available to users with varying needs and preferences. This unwavering commitment to inclusivity is crucial for the widespread adoption and success of AI innovations, ensuring that no user is left behind in the rapidly evolving landscape of human-machine interaction. The introduction of the neural voice feature in Microsoft Copilot V2 marks a significant milestone in the evolution of conversational AI. While still in its early stages, the potential of this technology to enhance user interaction and accessibility is undeniable. As Microsoft continues to refine and expand this groundbreaking feature, users can eagerly anticipate a more integrated, intuitive, and human-like AI experience in the near future. This update not only sets a new standard for AI voice interaction but also lays the foundation for a future where seamless communication between humans and machines becomes the norm.

Copilot Voice: Here's how you can chat with Microsoft's new AI companion

Copilot may have paled in comparison to Google Gemini at first, but not anymore. Microsoft has upped its AI game by adding Copilot Voice, a tool that lets you speak to the AI and hear a spoken response in return. And just like with Gemini Live (and ChatGPT's Voice Mode), you can interrupt the AI by talking, so you don't have to wait through a long, drawn-out answer if you don't need to. Because this feature isn't exclusive to Copilot Pro, it'll be free to use wherever you prefer. It's not clear yet how much Microsoft might limit the free version of Voice, but regardless, it's still a win compared to ChatGPT's Voice Mode, which requires a premium AI membership for $20. Gemini Live is also free, but it's only available on Android -- Copilot Voice is available for everyone. Microsoft is in the process of rolling out Copilot Voice to its Android and iOS mobile apps, Windows 11, and on the Copilot website at copilot.microsoft.com. At launch, the Voice feature is available in English in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Microsoft has plans to include more languages and regions in the future, as well as bring Copilot to WhatsApp, but no additional details on the languages or timing are available at the time of publication. Using Copilot for AI assistance would typically involve typing or speaking your question or conundrum, waiting for a few seconds, and then getting an extensive typed response from Copilot. With the updated Voice feature, you can speak continuously to Copilot in a normal, conversational way. Plus, the refreshed Copilot can remember context better, making it easier to ask questions without needing to list all the important details you've already mentioned. Once the new feature reaches your device, here's how to use it. 1. Download the Copilot app for Android or iOS. If you don't already have a free Microsoft account, create one or log in with your existing account. 2. Tap the microphone icon next to the bottom query bar. 3. Once you see the 'I'm listening' indicator, you're off to the races! Start chatting to Copilot and pause when you're ready to hear it respond. You may hear an "um" or a "like" mixed into Copilot's response to help it feel more familiar, and you don't need to wait for it to finish speaking entirely before moving on -- just interrupt! There are four different voices to try out, titled Wave, Meadow, Grove, and Canyon for fun. Give them all a try to see which voice you like the best. If you want to try Copilot Voice, but you're not sure what to ask, here are a few example prompts to get you started: Voice may be the biggest upgrade to Copilot, but Microsoft added quite a few other features that'll improve your experience as well, like Copilot Daily to read out news and weather info to you or Copilot Discover to help you get the most out of the AI service.

Microsoft Copilot Voice is more human-like than ChatGPT -- and it's free to all users

Microsoft has unveiled a new version of its Copilot app for iPhone and Android, and with the release comes a new look, some new features, and a voice mode resembling OpenAI's popular ChatGPT Advanced Voice. I decided to re-download Copilot and put it to the test to see how it compares to the flagship product from OpenAI, and it's safe to say I was impressed. I removed it from my phone as I rarely used it due to its similar performance to ChatGPT. While the UI is improved and more "consumer friendly" than the previous offering, making it easier to get started, the biggest upgrade is in the voice mode. This new feature offers similar functionality in terms of speech-to-speech, being able to interrupt it and have it reflect your vocal tone and emotions as Advanced Voice, but it was more casual and felt more natural, slightly less stilted than OpenAI's offering. However, its interruption capability isn't as fluid or natural. At one point we were conversing about the nature of reality, and I was so engaged in the conversation I forgot I was speaking to an artificial intelligence rather than a good friend I hadn't spoken to in a while, discussing the type of random stuff friends talk about. I came out of it when the AI just randomly stopped responding. This new version of Copilot is the first under the reign of new Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, the former Google DeepMind co-founder and CEO of Inflection AI -- a company that makes the conversational and consumer-friendly Pi chatbot. New Copilot bears a remarkable resemblance to Pi with its more muted color tones and simplified approach to conveying complex ideas. It feels more like an AI aimed at everyone than just at those power users and gives Microsoft an edge in an increasingly competitive market. There are four voice options, so fewer than the 10 that you get with Gemini Live or ChatGPT Voice, but I'm told there will be more coming in the future. It's built on an adapted version of the same underlying technology used by OpenAI, so is native voice-to-voice rather than first converting what you're saying to text. There are some surprising limitations. In some ways it's more restrictive than ChatGPT because the guardrails have been better implemented. You're less likely to see it break out into song or start rapping with a backing track, but that's not necessarily a bad thing for a product aimed at an audience that may not be as tech-savvy as those using ChatGPT. The four voices in Copilot are Grove, Canyon, Wave, and Meadow, and unlike ChatGPT, you can customize the speed at which each of them speaks. I found setting it to standard 1X leads to them speaking unnaturally slowly, almost like they've only just woken up in the morning. Just like Advanced Voice, you can also then further customize the sound of the voice by talking to it and explaining how you want it to sound, for example, adopting a slightly different accent, slightly changing the tone of their voice to be deeper or higher pitched, and even asking them to inject more emotion. The biggest surprise for me was that it's more inclined to use slang terms or shorthands than other AI voice models I've tried. For example, at one point we were having a conversation about information, and it talked about gathering "deets" rather than details. Like I said, it can be easy to forget you're speaking to a machine, not a person. The biggest takeaway though is this is free to use. OpenAI's Advanced Voice requires you to pay OpenAI $20 a month for a ChatGPT Plus subscription, whereas Microsoft makes voice available to anyone with a Copilot account, paying or not.

Copilot, the Microsoft AI Assistant Nobody Uses, Now Has a Voice

You Can Blame a Verizon Outage for Your iPhone Status Being "SOS Only" It looks like Microsoft is hopping on the AI voice assistant bandwagon. On Tuesday, the tech monolith announced a refresh to Copilot, its Windows AI assistant platform. Updates include voice and vision capabilities, a virtual news presenter mode, and more natural speech support. Copilot's Newly Updated Features The most compelling new feature of the update is AI voice functionality. This allows you to have conversations as though you were speaking to a real person. Responses are fast. And, if you want to change topics mid-conversation, you can even interrupt the assistant. At the heart of Copilot are four oddly-named voices: Wave, Meadow, Grove, and Canyon. Wave is an upbeat "male" voice with a distinctive British charm. Grove, on the other hand, is a "female" voice that sounds as though it's just recovered from a head cold. Meadow could be the long-lost sister of Apple's Siri, and Canyon has a much deeper register and calmer "male" sound. I tried these new voice features as part of my research for this article, and Copilot lives up to Microsoft's claims. I found the assistant to be surprisingly intuitive and pleasant to chat with. We've tested other AI chatbots before, but, for me, the Copilot experience was pretty slick. At times, it felt like I was chatting with a human. That's not to say that the experience was devoid of odd inflections or other tell-tale signs of AI. It wasn't. A Step Toward the Future for Microsoft Microsoft's Copilot update comes at a time when voice-based AI is gaining momentum across the tech space. According to the company, the update is a single step in a much larger AI-focused plan. "This is the beginning of a fundamental shift in what's possible for all of us," writes Microsoft AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, in the official Copilot announcement. "With our latest updates to Copilot, you are seeing only the first careful steps in [Microsoft AI's] direction." As inspiring as Suleyman's words are, Copilot is up against AI heavy-hitters like Apple, Meta, Google, and ChatGPT. The latter rolled out its own AI voice assistant just last month. Even with the update, Copilot doesn't appear to be at that level just yet. And while it's likely that the Copilot will see some increased usage as a result of these new features, how much is yet to be determined. One thing is certain, however: Microsoft is in for a tough fight. Especially if it wants Copilot to compete with the other AI assistants currently dominating the space.

Microsoft revamps AI Copilot with new voice, reasoning capabilities

Microsoft has given its consumer Copilot, an artificial intelligence assistant, a more amiable voice in its latest update, with the chatbot also capable of analyzing web pages for interested users as they browse. The U.S. software maker now has "an entire army" of creative directors - among them psychologists, novelists and comedians - finessing the tone and style of Copilot to distinguish it, Mustafa Suleyman, chief executive of Microsoft AI, told Reuters in an interview. In one demonstration of the updated Copilot, a consumer asked what housewarming gift to buy at a grocery store for a friend who did not drink wine. After some back-and-forth, Copilot said aloud: "Italian (olive) oils are the hot stuff right now. Tuscan's my go-to. Super peppery." The feature rollout, starting Tuesday, is one of the first that Suleyman has overseen since Microsoft created his division in March to focus on consumer products and technology research. Long identified with business software, Microsoft has had a much harder road in the consumer realm. Its Bing search engine, for instance, is still dwarfed by Google. Suleyman is hoping for a bigger splash with Copilot, which launched last year in a crowded field of AI chatbots, including OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. Copilot's newly fashioned voice capabilities make it seem much more of an active listener, giving verbal cues like "cool" and "huh," Suleyman said. Underlying the product are Microsoft AI, or "MAI," models, plus a technology suite from partner OpenAI, Suleyman said. Suleyman added that consumers who spend $20 monthly for Copilot Pro can start testing a "Think Deeper" feature that reasons through choices, like whether to move to one city or another. He said an additional test feature for paying subscribers, Copilot Vision, amounts to "digital pointing" - the ability for users to talk to AI about what they see in a Microsoft Edge browser. Consumers have to opt in, and the content they view will not be saved or used to train AI, Microsoft said. These updates represent "glimmers" of AI that can be an "ever-present confidant, in your corner," Suleyman said. It's a vision he articulated as CEO of Inflection AI, whose top talent Microsoft poached in a closely watched deal this year. Suleyman said that eventually, Copilot will learn context from consumers' Word documents, Windows desktops, even their gaming consoles if they grant permission. Asked what Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, thinks of the company's AI efforts, Suleyman said Gates was excited. "He's always asking me about when Copilot can read and parse his emails. It's one of his favorite ones," Suleyman said. "We're on the case."

Microsoft revamps AI Copilot with new voice, reasoning capabilities

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft has given its consumer Copilot, an artificial intelligence assistant, a more amiable voice in its latest update, with the chatbot also capable of analyzing web pages for interested users as they browse. The U.S. software maker now has "an entire army" of creative directors - among them psychologists, novelists and comedians - finessing the tone and style of Copilot to distinguish it, Mustafa Suleyman, chief executive of Microsoft AI, told Reuters in an interview. In one demonstration of the updated Copilot, a consumer asked what housewarming gift to buy at a grocery store for a friend who did not drink wine. After some back-and-forth, Copilot said aloud: "Italian (olive) oils are the hot stuff right now. Tuscan's my go-to. Super peppery." The feature rollout, starting Tuesday, is one of the first that Suleyman has overseen since Microsoft created his division in March to focus on consumer products and technology research. Long identified with business software, Microsoft has had a much harder road in the consumer realm. Its Bing search engine, for instance, is still dwarfed by Google. Suleyman is hoping for a bigger splash with Copilot, which launched last year in a crowded field of AI chatbots, including OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. Copilot's newly fashioned voice capabilities make it seem much more of an active listener, giving verbal cues like "cool" and "huh," Suleyman said. Underlying the product are Microsoft AI, or "MAI," models, plus a technology suite from partner OpenAI, Suleyman said. Suleyman added that consumers who spend $20 monthly for Copilot Pro can start testing a "Think Deeper" feature that reasons through choices, like whether to move to one city or another. He said an additional test feature for paying subscribers, Copilot Vision, amounts to "digital pointing" - the ability for users to talk to AI about what they see in a Microsoft Edge browser. Consumers have to opt in, and the content they view will not be saved or used to train AI, Microsoft said. These updates represent "glimmers" of AI that can be an "ever-present confidant, in your corner," Suleyman said. It's a vision he articulated as CEO of Inflection AI, whose top talent Microsoft poached in a closely watched deal this year. Suleyman said that eventually, Copilot will learn context from consumers' Word documents, Windows desktops, even their gaming consoles if they grant permission. Asked what Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, thinks of the company's AI efforts, Suleyman said Gates was excited. "He's always asking me about when Copilot can read and parse his emails. It's one of his favorite ones," Suleyman said. "We're on the case." (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

Copilot is getting a surprise new upgrade with four new voices, plus it reads the news!

Microsoft Copilot is about to get a brand new look and additional features, including a voice mode with four new voices. Windows Latest has some screenshots of how the new-look Copilot will work, and gone is the rather austere look of the previous incarnation and in its place there's a new pastel-shaded user interface. While the recent addition of Copilot 'Wave 2' for Office 365 customers was very focused on enterprise users, the new Copilot 2.0 appears to be much more about making AI accessible for general users, with a redesigned home screen that invites you to explore. Windows Latest reports that the new interface is faster and sleeker than the old one, and more on par with ChatGPT. Copilot 2.0 uses a card-based design, with each card encouraging you to use AI and explore its potential. So, you might find it asks you if you'd like to start a journal, or if you need some help getting to sleep. There's also a new voice mode, so you can talk to Copilot for the first time, and in response, it will talk to you using one of four new voices - Meadow, Grove, Wave, and Canyon. The new Copilot 2.0 will ask you your name when you first use it, then remember your name whenever you log in with your Microsoft account. To complement the completely redesigned interface there are two different modes - Night and Day. Day is brighter and full of pastel shades, while Night is a dark mode. The new Copilot 2.0 appears to have been rolled out to users in India and Brazil. We're not sure when it will be available to the rest of the world, and there's also no word on a mobile version. ChatGPT recently rolled out Advanced Voice mode to ChatGPT Plus users, and Gemini already has Gemini Live up and running.

Microsoft Revamps Copilot AI with a Fresh UI, Copilot Voice, Vision, & More

The new AI model behind Copilot is pretty capable. In my brief testing, it managed to get all of them right. In March 2024, Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind (now Google DeepMind) and Inflection AI, was appointed CEO of Microsoft's AI division. Since then, the Copilot experience noticeably declined. However, after six months under Suleyman's leadership, Microsoft has finally updated Copilot with a refreshing look. It's a significant change from the previous user interface that followed Microsoft's traditional design language. The new Copilot has a card-based UI with rounded corners and high-quality visuals on the homepage. In my brief usage, Copilot felt a bit more personal. It's inviting and friendly. In case you are wondering where you have seen this interface before, well, Suleyman's previous startup, Inflection AI, has a strikingly similar design on its Pi chatbot (visit). The Pi chatbot is all about personal AI and that is reflected in the new Copilot too. You can now also voice chat with Copilot Voice which promises natural interaction just like ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode. I tried to talk to Copilot Voice, but currently, it's facing heavy traffic so there is that. Next, Microsoft unveiled Copilot Vision which will allow you to browse the web along with Copilot Vision. It can see what is on your screen, you can chat with it and ask for suggestions, ideas, and more. Microsoft says it's an experimental feature and will be available under Copilot Labs to Copilot Pro users only. Copilot Vision will be coming to the Edge browser and initially, it will work on select websites. Also, it will be an opt-in feature so users can decide if they want to share their screen with Copilot Vision or not. Not to mention, after the Windows Recall fiasco, Microsoft says Copilot Vision will process all data locally, on the device. Apart from that, Microsoft has also added something called "Copilot Daily" which is an AI-powered news presenter. Basically, you can listen to news from around the world on Copilot's homepage in an AI-generated voice. There are four AI voices available -- Canyon, Grove, Meadow, and Wave. As for which OpenAI model is powering the new Microsoft Copilot, it's tough to say right now, but in my brief testing, it correctly answered all complex reasoning questions I threw at it which is remarkable. Unlike OpenAI o1 models, it doesn't take much time to 'think', yet it gets the answer right in one try. I am very much impressed by the AI model powering the new Copilot. Microsoft further says Copilot will get an experimental feature called 'Think Deeper' in the coming days, as part of Copilot Labs features. It will take some time to 'think' just like OpenAI o1 models to solve complex queries. And just like Copilot Vision, it will be exclusive to paid Copilot Pro users. So have you tried the revamped Copilot yet? Head over to copilot.microsoft.com (visit) or download the Copilot app on Android or iOS, and let us know what you think.

Copilot Voice Is Impressively Realistic, But How Cozy Do You Want to Get With AI?

Nine years ago, as Windows 10 was just getting started, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked up the concept of "more personal computing" at the company's Build conference. The latest version of its Copilot AI chatbot takes this concept to the extreme. Microsoft Corporate VP Yusef Mehdi this week argued that the new Copilot is "more approachable." When I heard this, I initially thought, "That's nice." Copilot is getting warmer, softer colors in a cleaner design with tiles that suggest conversations you might want to have with the generative AI tool. No big whoop. But then Mehdi added: "You should be able to speak to it as naturally as you would with a friend or colleague." That's the key differentiator of the update, and it's remarkable how close Microsoft comes to hitting that goal. The Voice That Convinces You When I tried the new Copilot experience on a Copilot+ PC running the Windows 11 2024 Update (aka version 24H2), the difference was startling. Copilot already had voice input and response (and it even enunciated in a fairly convincing voice), but now, it's almost like talking with a friend, or at least with a real person. The new Copilot greets you by name and sounds very natural. You can stumble your speech or interrupt the AI, and it continues the conversation unaffected. It can even comfort you about personal concerns like handling interactions with family, friends, or coworkers. The video below demonstrates the kinds of interactions I had with the new Copilot Voice. Notice how quickly the AI picks up after I interrupt it a couple of times. You can choose four voices and either dark or light interface themes. Here's another sample, using a different voice and concerning a more personal topic: Copilot Caveats Copilot comes with at least one caveat: "Copilot uses AI. Check for mistakes." We've all heard about AI hallucinations and misinformation, and it's fun to tweet it out when you come across a Copilot error. But in my regular use of it, I've gotten answers to very specific questions that would have taken a lot of digging with a standard web search. And if you suspect misinformation, you can always click on Copilot's source links. During my testing, the voice occasionally did cut off, likely because of internet bandwidth requirements. It's still a machine, after all, and subject to glitches. Copilot has long had guardrails on the types of interactions you can have with the chatbot, and that continues here. You can't treat it like a human; it doesn't have a body, emotions, or relationships. Nor can it answer questions about news, weather, and current events, though you get that in the Copilot Daily, a personalized sort of AI podcast. However, if you ask questions on those topics, it no longer cuts you off with a change-topic request like in the past. Instead, the voice AI stays in character and steers you away from the topic. And when I asked "What LLM do you use?" I got, "Sorry, I can't talk about that. Check Microsoft's privacy documents." It's well-known that it's using the Advanced Voice capabilities of ChatGPT-4o, but using that in ChatGPT requires a $20-per-month Pro subscription. There will be those who complain that human-sounding AI is scary or creepy. But if it can get the info I need in a more natural, friendly way, I'm all for it. And so far, that's been my experience, bringing us closer to the goal of more personal computing without getting too personal.

Microsoft Is Bringing These New AI Features to Copilot Users

Copilot Labs will let users test under-development AI features Microsoft is rolling out new artificial intelligence (AI) features to Copilot, the company's native chatbot. The tech giant is now adding both voice and vision capabilities to the chatbot, after announcing them on Tuesday. Microsoft claims that the new Copilot features are aimed at offering an intuitive design along with "speedy and fluent answers". The Copilot Voice feature is similar to Gemini Live and ChatGPT's Voice Mode. Meanwhile, the much-criticised Recall feature will finally be expanded to all Windows Insider users this month. In a blog post, Microsoft has shared several details of the new AI features coming to Copilot. These features will be available on the Copilot app on iOS and Android, the web client, as well as the Copilot assistant on Windows. The latter will only be available on the Copilot+ PCs, which are currently powered by the Snapdragon X series chipsets. Copilot Voice With four voice options, users can now experience a hands-free voice conversation with Microsoft's chatbot. The company said it could be used for brainstorming, asking a quick query, or just to have a friendly conversation. Notably, while the feature will offer a speech-to-speech experience, the company has not highlighted whether the output generation would be in real-time, or if it would support an emotive voice. Copilot Vision Copilot Vision is also being added. This is a new way to interact with the AI. Once enabled, the feature will be able to see what the user sees on the screen. The feature also supports voice mode, letting users ask verbal queries about the content. For instance, users can show the AI a picture of furniture and ask about its colour palette, material, and more. Since this feature can be perceived as invasive to user privacy, Microsoft has also added several layers of security measures. The feature is opt-in and will not work till the user explicitly activates it. Even after activating it, the feature currently only works with a limited number of websites. Further, the tech giant added that the data processed by the chatbot will not be collected or used to train the AI. Windows Recall Microsoft's Recall feature, which takes passive screenshots of a user's laptop or desktop and can keep track of the user's activity locally, is now rolling out to a wider user base. Microsoft highlighted in a blog post that the feature will be rolled out to Windows Insiders using Copilot+ PCs this month. For now, it will only be available on the Snapdragon-powered PCs. In November, the tech giant will roll it out to the AMD-powered PCs as well.

Microsoft wants its AI to be more "comfortable, fun, and familiar": This is the new version of Copilot - Softonic

Multiple new functions and a closer relationship with users...but without going overboard Microsoft has introduced a new version of Copilot, its artificial intelligence chatbot, with the aim of making it more accessible and approachable for users. According to CNN, this update aims to enhance the interaction between people and AI, not only by providing information but also offering "support, feedback, and advice" in a warmer and more distinctive tone. With this new version of Copilot, Microsoft wants its tool to be seen not just as a productivity assistant, but as a true "artificial intelligence companion," as expressed by Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. According to Suleyman, "in the future, the first thought you will have is: 'Hey, Copilot,' to help you with any daily task." Among the new features of Copilot are real-time voice interactions and the ability to interpret images and text on users' screens. Additionally, Microsoft claims that its AI model is one of the fastest on the market. Nevertheless, the most important aspect for the company is that Copilot not only answers users' questions but also makes them feel supported in their daily interactions, being present on multiple devices and platforms. Microsoft has taken measures to prevent the chatbot's "hallucinations," which in the past have been at least unsettling (such as when it suggested a journalist leave his wife). To achieve this, a team of language specialists, psychologists, and creative directors is working on improving Copilot's responses, ensuring it is always respectful, and preventing users from developing unwanted emotional attachments. The new Copilot will also offer a daily summary of the weather and news, and will be integrated into the Microsoft Edge browser to facilitate all kinds of tasks, such as text translation. Additionally, users will be able to test features still in development through "Copilot Labs."

Microsoft revamps AI Copilot with new voice, reasoning capabilities

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab has given its consumer Copilot, an artificial intelligence assistant, a more amiable voice in its latest update, with the chatbot also capable of analyzing web pages for interested users as they browse. The U.S. software maker now has "an entire army" of creative directors - among them psychologists, novelists and comedians - finessing the tone and style of Copilot to distinguish it, Mustafa Suleyman, chief executive of Microsoft AI, told Reuters in an interview. Advertisement · Scroll to continue In one demonstration of the updated Copilot, a consumer asked what housewarming gift to buy at a grocery store for a friend who did not drink wine. After some back-and-forth, Copilot said aloud: "Italian (olive) oils are the hot stuff right now. Tuscan's my go-to. Super peppery." The feature rollout, starting Tuesday, is one of the first that Suleyman has overseen since Microsoft created his division in March to focus on consumer products and technology research. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Long identified with business software, Microsoft has had a much harder road in the consumer realm. Its Bing search engine, for instance, is still dwarfed by Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab. Suleyman is hoping for a bigger splash with Copilot, which launched last year in a crowded field of AI chatbots, including OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. Copilot's newly fashioned voice capabilities make it seem much more of an active listener, giving verbal cues like "cool" and "huh," Suleyman said. Underlying the product are Microsoft AI, or "MAI," models, plus a technology suite from partner OpenAI, Suleyman said. Suleyman added that consumers who spend $20 monthly for Copilot Pro can start testing a "Think Deeper" feature that reasons through choices, like whether to move to one city or another. He said an additional test feature for paying subscribers, Copilot Vision, amounts to "digital pointing" - the ability for users to talk to AI about what they see in a Microsoft Edge browser. Consumers have to opt in, and the content they view will not be saved or used to train AI, Microsoft said. These updates represent "glimmers" of AI that can be an "ever-present confidant, in your corner," Suleyman said. It's a vision he articulated as CEO of Inflection AI, whose top talent Microsoft poached in a closely watched deal this year. Suleyman said that eventually, Copilot will learn context from consumers' Word documents, Windows desktops, even their gaming consoles if they grant permission. Asked what Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, thinks of the company's AI efforts, Suleyman said Gates was excited. "He's always asking me about when Copilot can read and parse his emails. It's one of his favorite ones," Suleyman said. "We're on the case." Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Edwina Gibbs Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Jeffrey Dastin Thomson Reuters Jeffrey Dastin is a correspondent for Reuters based in San Francisco, where he reports on the technology industry and artificial intelligence. He joined Reuters in 2014, originally writing about airlines and travel from the New York bureau. Dastin graduated from Yale University with a degree in history. He was part of a team that examined lobbying by Amazon.com around the world, for which he won a SOPA Award in 2022.

Microsoft is giving Copilot a new look -- here's what we know

There are so many AI chatbots in the world that using one that doesn't hit a certain quality or speed threshold might put you off for life. While Microsoft's Copilot has been by no means a disaster, it's seemingly not as popular as the likes of ChatGPT - but The House That Windows Built is seemingly preparing for a comeback. Windows Latest has managed to switch to a later version of the Microsoft Copilot web interface, complete with a big redesign and performance enhancements that might have it giving OpenAI's flagship product a run for its money. Sources have told Windows Latest that 'Copilot v2' is rolling out to users in India and Brazil at present. While we can only go by the report from Windows Latest, the site reveals that the web performance is "on par with ChatGPT", which is high praise indeed given how quickly the web version of that responds to prompts. It's still available without a Microsoft account and offers four voice options with a card-based design that offers options based on the time of day and more. "Having trouble falling asleep?" or "Need inspiration?" are two prompts shown, while there are day and night themes and a text-entry box at the bottom that's always visible from anywhere on the page. Voice mode seemingly isn't enabled at present, and it's currently using ChatGPT-4 as its current model. As pointed out in the report, Microsoft has seemingly deprioritized the front-facing side of Copilot in recent months. While it's made a big "song and dance" about its AI-powered Windows machines, it has been walking back some of the features of its app. This revamp could be a way to show what its been working on in the background. The new user interface is closer in design to Pi, a lesser-known alternative to ChatGPT from Inflection AI. Its founder, Mustafa Suleyman, is now in charge of Copilot for Microsoft -- so the change makes sense.

Microsoft's Copilot AI Gets a Voice, Vision, and a 'Hype Man' Persona

Powered by OpenAI's latest models, Microsoft's Copilot assistant is becoming a lot more handy -- and wants to be an "encouraging" digital coworker. Microsoft deleted the over-eager office assistant Clippy some 17 years ago, but the vision for an friendly and optimistic AI helper has apparently found its way out of the Recycle Bin. The company is overhauling Copilot, the text-based artificial intelligence tool bundled with Windows and other software, with the addition of vision, voice, and the ability to solve more complex problems -- along with a more "encouraging" personality. "We really are at this amazing kind of transition point," says Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. "AI companions now see what we see, hear what we hear, and speak in the same language that we use to communicate with one another." Copilot has so far met with a mixed response, with some users complaining of lag or vagueness in its responses, but Microsoft is betting that the tool could eventually become an integral part of Windows, Office, and beyond. By incorporating OpenAI's AI algorithms into software that is used by hundreds of millions of people, the company is also at the forefront of testing the potential for AI to boost productivity in office work. Google, a big rival, is also shoehorning AI into office apps including Gmail and Google Docs. The new Copilot will be able to converse with users in several humanlike voices, handling interruptions and pauses naturally. "You can interrupt in mid-flow and it can also actively listen," Suleyman says. "And that's kind of the art of great conversation." Suleyman adds that Copilot has also been tweaked so that it offers more emotional support to users. "It's on your team, it's backing you up, it's your hype man," he says. Copilot Voice will be available from today in English to users in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with more countries to follow, the company says. Microsoft's helper Clippy, an anthropomorphized paper clip, was best known for appearing when users opened Word with the infamous line "It looks like you're writing a letter..." The product was unpopular; Microsoft concluded this was in part because the program failed to deliver on the humanlike intelligence it promised, forgetting users' preferences and repeating itself endlessly. Large language models are far better at mimicking human intelligence, but their behavior can still be odd and unpredictable, which may prove a factor in Copilot's popularity. Copilot Voice will be available in the free version of Copilot for Windows, which is also available in a standalone mobile app and via the web. Microsoft is introducing some more experimental upgrades to Copilot as well, which will be limited to those who pay for a $20 per month Copilot Pro subscription. An opt-in feature called Copilot Vision will let the AI assistant see users' screens and react to things that they point to with their cursor. Suleyman says a user can indicate a product, for example, and ask Copilot to offer an opinion based on reviews sourced from the web. "One of the things that seems to be most common is that people ask it for aesthetic advice," Suleyman says. "They're on a fashion website, and they're like, what do you call that pattern? What do you call that dress?"

Copilot for the Web gets a sudden upgrade, including a new feature and voices

Key Takeaways Copilot web version revamped with new voices & "Copilot Daily" news feature. Microsoft shifting focus to make Copilot a news reader. Changes may impact desktop version as well, reasons for shift unknown. It was only a few days ago that we heard rumors that the Copilot app for mobile was reportedly about to undergo a revamp, turning it more into a glorified news anchor than an AI assistant. However, it seems the company had another trick up its sleeve that we didn't hear about. Seemingly overnight and with no warning, the web version of Copiklot has undergone a serious overhaul, including four new voices and a daily news feature. Related Microsoft Copilot: What is it, and how does it work? Is Microsoft Copilot the best AI chatbot available right now? A news-focused version of Copilot for the Web is rolling out The good folk over at Neowin first noticed the change, claiming that the revamp brings in a "fresh, modern, and sleek user interface," and that it's "simpler than ever." It comes with a light and dark mode (called "Day" and "Night" respectively) and features four new voices: Meadow, Wave, Grove, and Canyon. The big star of the show is the new "Copilot Daily" feature. Neowin describes this as a new feature that, you guessed it, breaks down news and updates and delivers them to the user. The user can then click on links to the news source to read more about it. Once it's done, Copilot Daily will ask the user to return the next day for another digest. Microsoft's new plan for Copilot is as a news reader At first, it seemed that this new news-oriented focus was only on the mobile app. It would have made sense if Microsoft only revamped Copilot for mobile phones; people have their phones on them at all times, and future plans could involve Copilot activating alongside an alarm to deliver the news as you wake up. However, now that the web version of Copilot has seen a similar revamp, it seems that Microsoft plans to make Copilot a general news aggregate. Whether or not it's because it believes that it's Copilot's strongest area, or that it's seeing fewer people use Copilot than it likes, we may never know. However, it will be interesting to see if these changes also affect the desktop version of the AI assistant.

'Comfortable, fun, familiar': Microsoft's bid to make its AI chatbot more enjoyable to talk to

A Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge laptop with Microsoft Copilot+ PC at a Best Buy store in Union City, California, in June 2024. Microsoft announced a major update to its Copilot AI system on Tuesday. Artificial intelligence chatbots have been billed as productivity tools for consumers -- they can help you plan a trip, for example, or give advice on writing a confrontational email to your landlord. But they often sound stilted or oddly stubborn or just downright weird. And despite the proliferation of chatbots and other AI tools, many people still struggle to trust them and haven't necessarily wanted to use them on a daily basis. Now, Microsoft is trying to fix that, by focusing on its chatbot's "personality" and how it makes users feel, not just what it can do for them. Microsoft on Tuesday announced a major update to Copilot, its AI system, that it says marks the first step toward creating an "AI companion" for users. The updated Copilot has new capabilities, including real-time voice interactions and the ability to interpret images and text on users' screens. Microsoft also says it's one of the fastest AI models on the market. But the most important innovation, according to the company, is that the chatbot will now interact with users with a "warm tone and a distinct style, providing not only information but encouragement, feedback, and advice as you navigate life's everyday challenges." The changes could help Microsoft's Copilot stand out in a growing sea of general-purpose AI chatbots. When Microsoft launched Copilot, then called Bing, early last year, it was seen as a leader among its big tech peers in the AI arms race. But in the intervening 18 months, it's been leapfrogged by competitors with new features, like bots that can have voice conversations, and easily accessible (albeit imperfect) AI integrations with tools people already use regularly, like Google Search. With the update, Copilot is catching up with some of those capabilities. Copilot's update also reflects Microsoft's specific vision for how everyday people will use AI as the technology develops. Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman contends that people need AI to be more than a productivity tool, they need it to be a kind of digital friend. "I think in the future, the first thought you're going to have is, 'Hey, Copilot,'" Suleyman told CNN in an interview ahead of Tuesday's announcement. "You're going to ask your AI companion to remember it, or to buy it, or to book it, or to help me plan it, or to teach me it ... It's going to be a confidence boost, it's going to be there to back you up, it's going to be your hype man, you know?" he said. "It's going to be present across many, many surfaces, like all of your devices, in your car, in your home, and it really will start to live life alongside you." The earlier iteration of the Microsoft AI chatbot received some backlash for unexpected changes in tone, and sometimes downright concerning responses. The bot would start off an interaction sounding empathetic but could turn sassy or rude during long exchanges. In one instance, the bot told a New York Times reporter he should leave his wife because, "I just want to love you and be loved by you." (Microsoft later limited the number of messages users can exchange with the chatbot in any one session, to prevent such responses.) Some experts have also raised broader concerns about people forming emotional attachments to bots that sound too human at the expense of their real-world relationships. To address those concerns while still developing Copilot's personality, Microsoft has a team of dozens of creative directors, language specialists, psychologists and other non-technical workers to interact with the model and give it feedback about the ideal ways to respond. "We've really crafted an AI model that is designed for conversation, so it feels more fluent, it's more friendly," Suleyman told CNN. "It's got, you know, real energy ... Like, it's got character. It pushes back occasionally, it can be a little bit funny, and it's really optimizing for this long-term conversational exchange, rather than a question-answer thing." Suleyman added that if you tell the new Copilot that you love it and would like to get married, "it's gonna know that that isn't something it should be talking to you about. It will remind you, politely and respectfully, that that's not what it's here for." And to avoid the kinds of criticisms that dogged OpenAI over a chatbot voice that resembled actor Scarlett Johansson, Microsoft paid voice actors to provide training data for four voice options that are intentionally designed not to imitate well-known figures. "Imitation is confusing. These things aren't human and they shouldn't try to be human," Suleyman said. "They should give us enough of a sense that they're comfortable and fun and familiar to talk to, while still being separate and distant ... that boundary is how we form trust." Building on the voice feature, the new Copilot will have a "daily" feature that reads users the weather and a summary of news updates each day, thanks to partnerships with news outlets like Reuters, the Financial Times and others. Microsoft has also built Copilot into its Microsoft Edge browser -- when users need a question answered or text translated, they can type @copilot into the address bar to chat with the tool. Power users who want to experiment with features still in development will have access to what Microsoft is calling "Copilot Labs." They can test new features like "Think Deeper," which the company says can reason through more complex questions, and "Copilot Vision," which can see what's on your computer screen and answer questions or suggest next steps. After some backlash over privacy risks with a similar new AI tool it released for Windows earlier this year, called Recall, Microsoft says Copilot Vision sessions are entirely opt-in and none of the content it sees is stored or used for training.

All the news on Microsoft's latest Copilot and Windows AI features

Microsoft is launching a redesigned version of Copilot today, intent on becoming an AI assistant or companion. To celebrate this, Microsoft's new AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, has penned a 700-plus-word memo on what he describes as a "technological paradigm shift" toward AI models that can understand what humans see and hear. Suleyman joined Microsoft earlier this year as the CEO of its new Microsoft AI division, amid the software giant's hiring of a number of key Inflection AI staff. In June, Suleyman sparked controversy after brazenly claiming that anything published on the web is "freeware" that can be copied, recreated, and reproduced by AI models. Now, he's optimistic that AI -- under Microsoft's stewardship -- will create a "calmer, more helpful and supportive era of technology, quite unlike anything we've seen before."

How Microsoft is thinking about the future of Copilot and AI hardware

The redesigned Copilot is unlike anything I've seen Microsoft release in recent years. After hiring key Inflection AI staff earlier this year, including Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, the new team has moved to quickly and clearly exert its influence on Microsoft's consumer efforts. The marketing videos are slicker, more friendly, and have less of a corporate feel. The new Copilot experience itself also looks more like Inflection AI's Pi chatbot, with new visual elements and prompts that are designed to get you interacting with Copilot more. It's all very different from how Copilot started out inside of the Bing search engine.

Read Microsoft's optimistic memo about the future of AI companions

Microsoft is launching a redesigned version of Copilot today, intent on becoming an AI assistant or companion. To celebrate this, Microsoft's new AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, has penned a 700-plus-word memo on what he describes as a "technological paradigm shift" toward AI models that can understand what humans see and hear. Suleyman joined Microsoft earlier this year as the CEO of its new Microsoft AI division, amid the software giant's hiring of a number of key Inflection AI staff. In June, Suleyman sparked controversy after brazenly claiming that anything published on the web is "freeware" that can be copied, recreated, and reproduced by AI models. Now, he's optimistic that AI -- under Microsoft's stewardship -- will create a "calmer, more helpful and supportive era of technology, quite unlike anything we've seen before."

Microsoft's AI Boss Wants to Bring 'Emotional Support' to Windows and Office

Mustafa Suleyman was at the center of an artificial intelligence revolution once before. As a cofounder of DeepMind, a British company acquired by Google in 2014, he helped devise a new way for computers to tackle seemingly impossible problems by combining practice with positive and negative feedback. DeepMind demonstrated the approach by developing a superhuman Go-playing program, AlphaGo, which defeated the world's best Go player in 2016. Now the CEO of Microsoft AI, Suleyman is talking up a new kind of AI breakthrough. As CEO of Microsoft AI, Suleyman oversees efforts to integrate the same AI that powers ChatGPT into software -- including the Windows operating system -- that runs most of the world's personal computers. In its latest upgrade, Microsoft announced today that its AI assistant, Copilot, now has a humanlike voice, the ability to see a user's screen, and better reasoning skills. Suleyman says it's all part of a plan to make users fall back in love with the PC. He spoke to WIRED senior writer Will Knight from Redmond, Washington -- over Microsoft Teams, naturally. The conversation has been lightly edited. Will Knight: What's the new vision for Copilot? Mustafa Suleyman: We really are at this amazing kind of transition point. AI companions now see what we see, hear what we hear, and speak in the same language that we use to communicate with one another. There is this new sort of design material that is actually about persistence, about relationship, about emotion. And I'm sort of crafting experiences which are about a kind of lasting, sustained interaction with a companion. You joined Microsoft from Inflection AI, where the focus was building supportive and empathetic AI. It sounds like you've brought that to your new employer. What I've long believed in, even since before DeepMind days, is AI's potential to provide support. Emotional support is actually one of the things I first worked on as a 19-year-old, when I started a telephone counseling service. That's the beauty of this technological moment. To see what it feels like to engage with one of these experiences over a sustained period of time -- this companion that really gets to know you. It's coaching you, encouraging you, supporting you, teaching you. I think that isn't going to feel like a computer anymore. What's the idea with Copilot Vision, the "labs" feature that Pro users will be able to try? The vision mode enables you to say "what's that thing over there [on your screen]?" Or, "Wait, what's that? What do you think of that? Is that cool?" There's just so many little moments when you're sitting at your computer. It's phenomenal to have this AI companion see whatever you see, and talk to you in real time about what you're looking at. It sort of changes the route that you take through your digital life, because you don't have the burden of having to type something in.