At the Copilot Fall Launch Event on Thursday, Microsoft officially introduced a new artificial intelligence character called Mico, marking an important step for the company in advancing AI personification on the consumer side. The name Mico comes from "Microsoft Copilot," and it is not only capable of listening, responding, and changing colors, but it is also designed as a "warm and customizable" virtual companion.

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Although Microsoft did not explicitly mention it, the inspiration for this "AI assistant" clearly comes from the Office Assistant Clippy over 20 years ago. Microsoft also included a hidden easter egg: if users click on Mico multiple times, it will "transform" into Clippy, reviving this classic character in a new AI form.

Mico will be launched first in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and will be enabled by default in Copilot's voice mode. It has the ability to remember conversations and learn from user feedback. US users can also experience a "real-time learning" mode, where Copilot acts as a mentor, guiding users to understand concepts rather than just providing answers.

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence, said: "We built this product not to make users addicted, but to help people return to life and strengthen human connections through artificial intelligence."

This Copilot update also introduced the **"Real Conversation" mode**, allowing the AI to engage in natural conversations by imitating the user's tone. However, it does not simply agree; instead, it presents different viewpoints with a "self-assured" approach, encouraging users to think about problems from a different perspective. Microsoft claims that this "self-centered" communication method will make human-computer interaction more authentic.

In addition to Mico, Copilot has gained group chat features, long-term memory support, cloud connectors (supporting email, storage, etc.), and deep integration in Edge browser. Microsoft plans to turn Edge into an intelligent browser that can automatically summarize and compare information, and even help users book hotels or fill out forms.

With the rise of AI browsers such as ChatGPT Atlas from OpenAI, Comet from Perplexity, and Chrome integrated with Gemini, Microsoft's move clearly aims to solidify its position as a leader in the field of generative AI.

Whether Mico will become a "AI companion" in the hearts of users like Clippy in the past remains to be seen.