Microsoft’s New Copilot Key For Windows Will Launch AI Chatbot

‘The platform shift driven by AI innovation continues to grow rapidly and powerfully, fundamentally changing the way we use technology across work and life,’ says Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president, consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft.

2024: ‘The Year Of The AI PC’

Microsoft is enabling instant access to its AI-powered Windows Copilot chatbot by adding a new key to Microsoft keyboards on new laptops, marking the company’s biggest change in keyboard redesign in nearly 30 years.

“We are excited to take the next significant step forward and introduce the Copilot key to Windows 11 PCs,” said Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president, consumer chief marketing officer, in a blog post today.

“We will be ushering in a significant shift toward a more personal and intelligent computing future where AI will be seamlessly woven into Windows from the system, to the silicon, to the hardware,” said Mehdi. “This will not only simplify people’s computing experience but also amplify it, making 2024 the year of the AI PC.”

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Starting in February, many new laptops and personal PCs that run on Windows 11 operating system will have a ‘Copilot key’.

The Microsoft Copilot key will join the Windows key as a core part of the PC keyboard and when pressed, the new key will invoke the Copilot in Windows experience to make it seamless to engage Copilot in a user’s daily life.

Microsoft’s Generative AI Copilot

The keyboard redesign from the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant comes as artificial intelligence technology, specifically generative AI, took the world by storm in 2023.

“At Microsoft, we are committed to empowering people and organizations to adapt and thrive in this new age of AI,” said Mehdi. “The platform shift driven by AI innovation continues to grow rapidly and powerfully, fundamentally changing the way we use technology across work and life.”

In 2023, generative AI seeped into nearly every IT conversation regarding AI thanks to the popularity of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT.

Some of the largest technology companies in the world, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, invested billions in creating a new generative AI portfolio of products and services including Microsoft Copilot.

Over the past 12 months, Microsoft added its AI-powered Copilot chatbot into Microsoft 365, Bing and other flagship products. Microsoft has also invested billions in enhancing its strategic partnerships with AI market leaders such as Intel and AMD, as well as unicorn GenAI startups like OpenAI. In fact, Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI alone over the past several years.

“You will start to see the Copilot key on many of the new Windows 11 PCs from our ecosystem partners, with availability beginning in late February through Spring, including on upcoming Surface devices,” said Mehdi.

Microsoft unveiled the new Copilot key for its Windows keyboards ahead of CES 2024 next week. Attendees will likely get to experience the new Copilot key first-hand during CES, which CRN will have full coverage on.