Microsoft Introduces Major Copilot Upgrade, Brings Avatar, Groups and Health Features

Microsoft introduced multiple new features to Copilot on Thursday. The new features were announced as part of the company's Fall Update event, and it brings a new character dubbed Mico that gives the chatbot a visual presence. Apart from this, the Redmond-based tech giant is also adding a new Copilot Mode in the Edge browser that bring agentic capabilities to the platform. Additionally, Copilot can now remember certain details about the user, and can also connect to third-party data hubs via connectors.

Microsoft Brings Copilot Fall Update

The Copilot fall update was announced by the tech giant in a during a live stream event. Over the months, Microsoft's native AI chatbot had somewhat fallen behind competitors such as Gemini and ChatGPT. However, the company has tried to make up for the lack of consumer-focused feature rollouts with a massive update. The company said the new features are aimed at making Copilot “more personal, more useful and more connected to the people and world around you.”

Perhaps the most interesting feature is a new visual presence for Copilot. The company introduced a new character dubbed Mico (portmanteau of Microsoft Copilot), which can react to the user with facial expressions, gestures, and colour changes. Mico is only available during voice chats, and is aimed at making Copilot appear “empathetic and supportive.” 

Microsoft is also adding a new "Real Talk" conversation style to Copilot that challenges the assumptions made by a user in a gentle manner. This mode also adapts to the conversation style of the user to help them learn. This mode will be less agreeable to the user.

Another new introduction is Groups. The feature turns Copilot into a shared experience, as users can now share a conversation link with up to 32 other people, and let them join in on the conversation. The chatbot will summarise threads, propose options, tally votes, and split tasks to align all the members in a session. 

The tech giant is also improving the Copilot's memory. With this update, the chatbot now has a long term memory, which it can use to remember certain important information about the user. The AI will also be able to recall this information in future conversations. This can be accessed via Copilot's Memory & Personalisation option.

Additionally, the company is also adding the ability to reference past conversations, so that the AI can draw context from past conversations, saving users the hassle to repeat everything all over again. Microsoft claims that users can edit, update, or delete memories at any time.

Copilot is also getting access to shared memory with connectors. Now, users can link services such as OneDrive, Outlook, Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar with the chatbot to let it search information across these knowledge hubs. The company says once connected, users can "locate documents, emails and calendar events."

Microsoft is also upgrading Copilot's ability to answer health-related queries with the new Copilot for health. Now, asking such questions will automatically ground the chatbot's responses in credible sources such as Harvard Health. Additionally, the chatbot can now help users connect with relevant doctors, matching them based on specialty, location, language, and other preferences.

Focusing on education, the company is also introducing Learn Live, a new voice-enabled feature that implements Socratic principles. This means instead of providing answers directly, the chatbot will guide the user through concepts, inquisitive questions, visual cues, interactive whiteboards, and more.

A couple of new features are also coming to the Edge browser. It now has a Copilot Mode that can see and reason over the user's open tabs to summarise and compare information. Additionally, with agentic capabilities, it can also take action on behalf of the user and complete tasks such as booking a hotel or filling out forms. 

The second feature in Edge browser is Journeys. It can organise past browsing sessions based on topics to make it easier for users to revisit these tasks without having to manually re-trace and open the websites. Both of these feature come with privacy protections and opt-in settings, the company said.

Finally, Copilot Search now combined AI-generated answers with traditional results in a single interface, allowing users to see cited responses.