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Last week, Microsoft announced it was putting a Copilot button on the Windows keyboard. Copilot, if you are unfamiliar, is Microsoft's name for its generative AI-powered assistant that is coming to what seems like every piece of software the company makes. The company also says it is working with PC makers to include the key on future products.
In fact, later last week, Dell announced that the updated versions of its XPS laptops would include the button. Basically, the idea is that you'll have a dedicated AI button on your laptop keyboard. Here's how Microsoft explained it in a statement:
The introduction of the Copilot key marks the first significant change to the Windows PC keyboard in nearly three decades. We believe it will empower people to participate in the AI transformation more easily. The Copilot key joins 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 your day to day.
Look, it's not a small thing that Microsoft is changing a keyboard layout that has existed for 30 years. That's how much the company believes in its push to bring Copilot to almost everything you do on your PC.
Obviously, Microsoft is all-in on generative AI. Famously, it invested $10 billion in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. It's also spent a lot of time and energy building its Copilot feature and putting it pretty much everywhere.
To understand how we got to this point, however, you actually have to go back about 30 years. Because, in some ways, the Co-Pilot button on your next Windows keyboard is a move three decades in the making. Here's what I mean:
There was a moment at Microsoft's Surface event in September, when the company's CEO, Satya Nadella, told the audience that "it's like the '90s are back." Nadella was referring to the glory days of the personal computer, of which Microsoft was a key player.
"This is as significant as the PC was to the '80s, the web in the '90s, mobile in the 2000s, cloud in the 2010s," said Nadella. "Just like you boot up an operating system to access applications or use a browser to navigate websites, you will involve a Co-Pilot to do all these activities and more."
No company more dominated the growth of the PC than Microsoft. Since then, however, the way people use computers shifted, first to the internet, and then to smartphones. Microsoft has never dominated either of those platforms--ceding them instead to Google and Apple.
There is certainly a sense that Microsoft sees its AI effort as a way to get back to its glory days--or, at least, it sees AI as a computing platform it can dominate. Putting a physical button right on the keyboard is certainly a good way to do that. Or, at least, it's a good way to try.
After Microsoft's September event, I wrote:
With AI, Microsoft seems to see an opportunity to sort of bring back the glory days. Nadella alluded to as much during the keynote: "I started in Microsoft when our mission was to put a PC in every home and every desk," Nadella said. "Today, we have a vision for a Co-Pilot that can empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more."
What he's really saying is that when he started at Microsoft, it was the most important company in desktop computing and now he'd like for it to be the most dominant company in AI computing. And, the company might have a shot.
I stand by that assessment, especially the last part--Microsoft might just have a shot. The Copilot demos I've seen are certainly some of the most compelling examples of how people might actually use AI on a regular basis. They are certainly some of the more obvious ways that computers can help people be more productive. And, now, with a dedicated button, Microsoft is making sure Copilot is here to stay.
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Microsoft Thinks You Need an AI Button on Your Laptop. It's a Stroke of Genius
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08.01.2024
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Last week, Microsoft announced it was putting a Copilot button on the Windows keyboard. Copilot, if you are unfamiliar, is Microsoft's name for its generative AI-powered assistant that is coming to what seems like every piece of software the company makes. The company also says it is working with PC makers to include the key on future products.
In fact, later last week, Dell announced that the updated versions of its XPS laptops would include the button. Basically, the idea is that you'll have a dedicated AI........
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