How Microsoft is thinking about the future of Copilot and AI hardware

It’s been a big week for Copilot and Microsoft’s AI efforts. Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot that’s aimed at consumers, complete with voice capabilities and the ability to understand what you’re looking at on a computer. These new Copilot Voice and Vision features feel like a key evolution in Microsoft’s effort to make Copilot a more personal companion and hint at what’s to come for AI experiences.

I got to speak to Windows and Surface chief Pavan Davuluri and consumer chief marketing officer Yusuf Mehdi to better understand the future of AI for Copilot and Windows. Microsoft is thinking about totally reimagined apps on Windows thanks to AI and the possibility of dedicated Copilot hardware in the future.

The redesigned Copilot is unlike anything I’ve seen Microsoft release in recent years. After hiring key Inflection AI staff earlier this year, including Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, the new team has moved to quickly and clearly exert its influence on Microsoft’s consumer efforts. The marketing videos are slicker, more friendly, and have less of a corporate feel. The new Copilot experience itself also looks more like Inflection AI’s Pi chatbot, with new visual elements and prompts that are designed to get you interacting with Copilot more. It’s all very different from how Copilot started out inside of the Bing search engine.