New Windows 11 PCs from Microsoft’s partners will feature a Copilot key, allowing users to seamlessly engage with the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.
Clicking on the Copilot key — which sits on the right side of the space bar — opens up the chatbot. Copilot can perform various tasks like searching for information, creating content, and adjusting PC settings.
In a blog post on Jan. 4, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, said the Copilot key is “the first significant change to the Windows PC keyboard in nearly three decades.” The last major change was the introduction of the Windows key in 1994.
Ahead of the CES 2024, a limited number of Windows 11 PCs have been released with the Copilot key. Windows 11 PCs with the new button are expected to be widely available later this month through Spring. New Microsoft Surface devices will also feature the Copilot key.
‘Making 2024 the Year of the AI PC’
Copilot is Microsoft’s new assistant — like Clippy, back in the day, but vastly more advanced. Unveiled in Sept. 2023, Copilot gives users more personalized search capabilities, boosts productivity by helping with various tasks and projects, and unlocks creativity by transforming ideas into images and drafts.
Copilot has also been integrated into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem and Microsoft’s Bing search engine, so it can help users with tasks like drafting and summarizing emails in Outlook, creating and editing Word documents, analyzing data in Excel, crafting presentations in PowerPoint, or facilitating meetings in Teams.
“This will not only simplify people’s computing experience but also amplify it, making 2024 the year of the AI PC,” Microsoft’s blog post said.
Copilot aligns with Microsoft’s vision of an operating system that “blurs the lines between local and cloud processing,” Medhi said.
“Together, we’re putting new system architectures in place to power new Windows AI experiences bringing together the GPU, CPU, NPU and the cloud,” he added.
Microsoft’s Copilot integration has the “potential to draw and bind users to all their [Microsoft’s] many products,” Prof. John Tucker, a computer scientist at Swansea University and founder of its History of Computing Collection, told BBC News.
Meanwhile, the new Windows Copilot key has received mixed reactions on Reddit. One user reminisced about the issues that arose with the debut of the Windows key, hinting at potential challenges with the new Copilot key. Another user suggested that the Copilot feature would be better suited within the browser until it can be integrated more meaningfully into the operating system.
How to Access Microsoft Copilot
Windows users who don’t have a device with the new Copilot key can invoke the chatbot using Windows key + C. You can also access the chatbot on any device by visiting the Copilot website and logging in with your Microsoft account.
Microsoft Copilot is currently not available in every country due to privacy laws. If Copilot is unavailable where you live, you can use a virtual private network (VPN) to spoof your location and access it. Simply download a reliable VPN, like NordVPN, and connect to a server in the United States or the United Kingdom (or any country where Copilot is available). And you should be able to access it.
While AI chatbots, like Microsoft Copilot, can make our lives easier by handling various tasks, it’s important to avoid sharing private or confidential information with AI systems. Read our guide to the privacy risks of AI to learn why you should protect your personal data from AI chatbots and how to do this.
More information about the Copilot key will be revealed at the world’s largest consumer technology trade event, the CES 2024 show in Las Vegas, which is set to run from Jan. 9 through Jan. 12.
Watch the Copilot key reveal video below:
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