Microsoft gives Copilot a ‘real talk’ upgrade – and an (optional) cartoon face

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Copilot adds group chats, a ‘real talk’ option, and an optional animated character.
• You can connect Copilot to external services to search email and calendar events.
• Copilot for Health promises ‘credible’ results from trusted sources.

If you had any doubt about Microsoft’s intention to insert its AI-powered Copilot features into every corner of its product line, today’s massive Copilot Fall Release should change your mind.

In a buzzword-heavy blog post that reads suspiciously like it was written with a heavy assist from Copilot, Microsoft announced 12 new features designed to expand its footprint in the AI market and address some criticisms of its signature chatbot.

‘Real talk’ with a cartoon character

Starting today, Copilot conversations — whether through voice or keyboard — will reportedly become less cloying and sycophantic than the current iteration, thanks to a new “real talk” feature that Microsoft claims will challenge your assumptions and “adapt to your vibe.”

In this release we’re adding features to make Copilot more personal and more adaptable to your needs and style, while holding true to our brand values. Copilot is designed to be empathetic and supportive, not sycophantic.  It will push back on you sometimes, but always respectfully. This is AI that listens. That learns. That earns your trust.

And for those who have been dreaming of the day that Clippy returns, the wait is over. Copilot chats can be accompanied by an “optional visual presence” — an animated blob called Mico (short for Microsoft Copilot, and pictured above) that “listens, reacts, and even changes colors to reflect your interactions … Mico shows support through animation and expressions, creating a friendly and engaging experience.”

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You can also add friends and co-workers to a chat, beginning today. With the Groups feature, Microsoft says, a user can start a session and then send a link to invite other people — up to 32 in all — to collaborate in real-time. The multi-user feature includes the ability to summarize threads, propose options, keep track of votes, and assign tasks. 

Learn Live turns the chatbot experience into an education tool — a “voice-enabled, Socratic tutor that guides you through concepts instead of just giving answers. It uses questions, visual cues, and interactive whiteboards,” Microsoft says.

Those four features are available in the US only and are live today.

Paging Doctor Copilot

The most controversial addition to this fall’s feature drop is billed as “Copilot for health.” Encouraging customers to ask for medical advice is a bold, even risky move for a product that has been known to make up answers and routinely includes a “Copilot may make mistakes” disclaimer with every interaction.

To deal with that concern, Microsoft says it’s worked on tying health-related questions to “credible sources like Harvard Health.” The feature can also reportedly help you “find the right doctors quickly and confidently, matching based on specialty, location, language, and other preferences.”

Copilot for health is available only in the US, on the web and in the iOS Copilot app.

Expanding Copilot’s reach

The Connectors feature, which is rolling out gradually, will allow you to connect a Copilot session to external services, so you can use natural language to search for documents, email threads, and calendar events. In addition to Microsoft’s own OneDrive and Outlook, Microsoft says support will be available for Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar.

Other enhancements to the core Copilot chat features include Memory & Personalization, which allows Copilot to reference past conversations and store important information so you can recall it in future interactions. Microsoft says you’ll be able to edit, update, or delete these memories at any time.

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A related feature, Proactive Actions, will allow Copilot to “suggest next steps based on your recent activity or research threads.” It’s currently available as a preview and requires a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Copilot Pages can now handle multiple file uploads — up to 20 files in a variety of document, image, and text formats, and an Imagine panel promises to “explore and remix AI-generated ideas in a collaborative space,” whatever that means.

Copilot Mode in Edge allows access to the Copilot Actions feature that Microsoft introduced earlier this year, with a few enhancements. By turning on the Journeys feature, you can reportedly return to previous interactions and tasks without having to start over. And the browser-based Copilot can work with all open tabs in the browser window instead of being restricted to just the current tab.

Copilot Search reportedly “combines AI-generated answers with traditional results in one view, providing clear, cited responses for faster and more trustworthy discovery.” Whether it will improve on the current mess of search results with an AI summary at the top remains to be seen.