Microsoft Copilot Becomes a Dedicated Key on Windows-Powered PC Keyboards

[AleksandarK]

Microsoft today announced the introduction of a new Copilot key devoted to its AI assistant on Windows PC keyboards. The key will provide instant access to Microsoft's conversational Copilot feature, offering a ChatGPT-style AI bot right from a button press. The Copilot key represents the first significant Windows keyboard change in nearly 30 years since the addition of the Windows key itself in the 90s. Microsoft sees it as similarly transformative - making AI an integrated part of devices. The company expects broad adoption from PC manufacturers starting this spring. The Copilot key will likely substitute keys like menu or Office on standard layouts. While currently just launching Copilot, Microsoft could also enable combo presses in the future.

The physical keyboard button helps make AI feel native rather than an add-on, as Microsoft aggressively pushes Copilot into Windows 11 and Edge. The company declared its aim to make 2024 the "year of the AI PC", with Copilot as the entry point. Microsoft envisions AI eventually becoming seamlessly woven into computing through system, silicon, and hardware advances. The Copilot key may appear minor, but it signals that profound change is on the horizon. However, users will only embrace the vision if Copilot proves consistently beneficial rather than gimmicky. Microsoft is betting that injecting AI deeper into PCs will provide usefulness, justifying the disruption. With major OS and hardware partners already committed to adopting the Copilot key, Microsoft's AI-first computer vision is materializing rapidly. The button press that invokes Copilot may soon feel as natural as hitting the Windows key or spacebar. As we await the reported launch of Windows 12, we can expect deeper integration with Copilot to appear.



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[phanbuey]

The Zune key.

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

Just…why

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

So... Clippy is back?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Remapping keyboard keys is just wrong
First was snipping tool to print screen key now triggering copilot malware
Pretty funny seeing it's on the side panel so this remapping is just salt on a wound for people rejecting it.
Typical ms at their worst.

Microsoft is betting that injecting AI deeper into PCs will provide usefulness, justifying the disruption

Probably will have to remove the right end winkey lol

If they screw with the space bar 11 is gone !

 

[Leiesoldat]

Microsoft can f&ck off with that. As someone posted on another article, the right Control key is mandatory for other languages like Korean. Not that this affects me all that much because I like custom keyboards, but any future laptop purchase is going to be Framework since Dell and others are already introducing this garbage key layout.

 

[Ferrum Master]

It will be just as a reminder to kill off that part of the windows. We didn't ask for this. Bloody nobody did.

 

[MachineLearning]

No one wants this, uses this, or likes this. And it'll be pushed anyway.

 

[MrDweezil]

Attempting to capture the AI market before the market materializes or their product is ready.

 

[AGlezB]

MS must have spent a pretty penny getting manufacturers to include they key which means they're making that pretty penny back and then some.
Personaly I will continue to do what I did with Cortana: use a combination of custom DNS, firewall and other tools to make sure it can never talk to their servers even if I can't uninstall it.

 

[ThrashZone]

I've already use copilot removal reg files.

Enable or Disable Windows Copilot in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the Windows Copilot feature on the taskbar for all or specific users in Windows 11 and Windows 10. The options in this tutorial will no longer work for the new Copilot app that can be uninstalled instead. Starting with Windows 11 build...

www.elevenforum.com

 

[MacZ]

This feature will provide some weird bugs and problems when the AI inevitably goes haywire (hallucinates)

(I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't to that)

 

[Dr. Dro]

I don't want it and I frankly don't care. This AI craze is ridiculous and it can't go away fast enough.

 

[kilo]

Will all right windows keys turn into copilot function or is this only for new keyboards?

 

[Wirko]

(see the third pic) Environmental Sustainability: Out With The Old, In With The New!

 

[ThrashZone]

Will all right windows keys turn into copilot function or is this only for new keyboards?

Hi,
Likely both and it says windows powered so all using windows.
Newer will have a new logo on it.

So out the window winkey+r goes no more run display :/

no more start menu opening lol
It has to have a trigger other than winkey or space key in the immortal words of the big guy = c'mon man !

 

[Onasi]

Very cool, Microsoft. This is very useful in markets where Co-Pilot is not available or for users who shut that garbage down via the tools YOU provide like gpedit. Now they have a key they have to rebind instead of it being useful by default.
Stop trying to offer useless hype features. You suck at it. Concentrate on making sure that the OS kernel itself is solid and the software layer around it (drivers, APIs and, yes, security) is as stable and usable as possible. That’s all that’s required of you. You are not Apple. You will never BE Apple. Just… stop, please. You have a great OS core, despite the grumblings of enthusiasts. Make sure to keep it great.

 

[zo0lykas]

Will all right windows keys turn into copilot function or is this only for new keyboards?

that's what iam thinking, if they replace windows for copilot don't bother me at all. plus we have 2 windows buttons for no reason i don't remember the last time I used that button

i just see some people like usual create drama for no reaso

 

[Squared]

Linux is bliss.

 

[ymbaja]

Another key to hang out with Caps Lock & Scroll Lock…

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Destroy all humans key.

Well i guess soon all new keyboards will have this key on.

 

[erocker]

Another thing from Microsoft nobody asked for that will slowly disappear into irrelevance.

 

[qlum]

Another key to hang out with Caps Lock & Scroll Lock…

Scroll-lock gives you a nice indicator like, so if you ever need a visible freely rebindable toggle it is quite nice to have.

 

[ThrashZone]

Scroll-lock gives you a nice indicator like, so if you ever need a visible freely rebindable toggle it is quite nice to have.

I hear the mouse wheel does that too :/

 

[Chrispy_]

Microsoft wanting something doesn't make it so.

When Copilot can reliably (rather than occasionally) do mundane tasks better than a typical human, I'll be interested. It's not that I don't think AI is cool - and we're using a bunch of AI tools at work already, it's that this last year Microsoft has bet the farm on AI and news from them is oversaturated with new AI tech to the point where I have lost excitement in it. I don't want Windows 12 to be all about AI, I want windows 12 to include AI as part of a wider suite of meaningful updates and fixes to longstanding criticisms that the overwhelming majority of users and reviewers share. I suspect Microsoft will be using AI to harvest marketable, sellable user data above any and all concerns for how well it actually serves us, the end-users.

Copilot can find things and do things on your PC well enough, but that's not glowing praise for it - rather it's damning criticism of just how faulty the start menu and Windows search can be at times. It would be nice if Microsoft actually fixed Windows' several outstanding broken features and finished the (still) incomplete transition from classic Windows NT-era UI to the unified modern experience that Sinovsky started with Windows 8 14 years ago.