(Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft made waves in recently by announcing it would introduce a Copilot key on future PC keyboards to launch its AI assistant. It’s not a huge surprise seeing as Microsoft now calls itself “the Copilot company.” The button will go next to the Alt key near the spacebar on the right side where many keyboards currently have a Ctrl key. It's the same spot where Microsoft once put a short-lived Office key, but there's reason to believe the Copilot key has staying power.
Microsoft's AI Will Run Both in the Cloud and Locally
The Copilot key is a prelude to a huge push for more integrated AI. At CES 2024 this week, we're seeing a wave of so-called AI PCs. These machines use the latest chips from Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm and have integrated neural processing units (NPUs), which means they can run more AI tasks locally on the PC hardware. This means the actions could happen much quicker—no seconds-long delay while Windows phones home to Microsoft’s data centers and waits for a response. Imagine instantly getting AI-based suggestions for how you might want to rewrite a document, or asking questions about a PDF on your computer. And since those tasks happen locally on your PC and not on a server somewhere, it’s more private, a big boon to businesses that want to keep their data and not have it processed at another company’s data centers. (Plus, it would even work offline!)
Today's Copilot runs entirely on Microsoft's servers, not locally on your hardware. When running Windows 11, the advanced chips merely unlock a few tricks in Windows Studio Effects to help during voice and video meetings with things like background blur and making it look like you’re looking directly at the camera when you’re not.
But Microsoft is frantically working on more AI features. Rumors suggest an AI-focused Windows release could be coming in late 2024. It might be a new version of Windows 11, it might be Windows 12, or it might be something else—that’s up to Microsoft’s marketing department.
Whatever it’s called, this forthcoming version of Windows will be able to run AI tasks locally. Future AI features in Microsoft's operating system will take a hybrid approach, with some parts running on your PC and some requiring Microsoft’s data centers. That’s necessary because while some simple tasks can be done on your PC with the right hardware, other AI tasks still require a lot of processing power or data and can’t run locally on your hardware. By offloading more AI tasks from its data centers to people’s PCs, Microsoft will also be keeping its data center bills in check. AI is expensive to run, after all.
Looking Ahead, Copilot Will Be More Contextual
To really make an impact, the Copilot key will have to work more contextually, rather than just pull up a Copilot sidebar. Microsoft has already indicated it wants Copilot to be more deeply integrated into Windows and throughout the PC experience rather than on the screen's edge.
So how might the key work in the future, beyond just opening that Copilot sidebar? Let's say you're working on a document or writing an email. You select some text and press the Copilot key, and Copilot knows you want to focus on your selected text. Or perhaps while reading a PDF you press the Copilot key and it lets you ask a question about the content of the document. Or maybe you’ll be sitting at your desktop and when you press the Copilot key Windows will provide contextual suggestions of what it thinks you might want to do—proactive AI recommendations rather than just a text box you type prompts into. That’s my informed speculation of how it might work, anyway.
I see the Copilot key as a statement of intent, something that demonstrates just how serious Microsoft is about Copilot and AI PCs. It shows where Windows is going later this year and is a promise to users about Microsoft's level of commitment. We know that we'll see some kind of “Windows refresh” in late 2024, according to Intel. Windows Central says it will have an “AI-powered Windows shell," referring to the part of Windows that delivers the desktop, taskbar, and other interface elements. AI will supposedly be woven throughout the operating system, from Windows search to your wallpapers, running in the background to learn about how you use your PC and provide better recommendations. Microsoft should deliver all those powerful AI features by the end of 2024. And who knows what the future will hold in 2025 and beyond?
The good news for PC geeks is that this focus on AI means Microsoft cares about Windows again.
Copilot or No Copilot? It's Up to You
Even if you don’t want a Copilot key, Windows is powerful and flexible enough that you can transform it into something else. Like any other key on your keyboard, you’ll be able to remap the Copilot key with a tool like the Keyboard Manager built into Microsoft PowerToys and turn it into something else with a few clicks.
Conversely, if you don’t have a Copilot key—it's not mandatory for Windows, and at least one laptop manufacturer has already announced it won't add one—you could turn another key into a Copilot key. (This flexibility is another reason you should try PowerToys on your PC if you haven’t yet.)
Either way, the choice is yours. Copilot isn’t mandatory. You can disable it if you want, but Microsoft is betting that Copilot will be so useful and AI will be so helpful that Windows users will love it. In a world where Microsoft is betting the company on AI, Windows is still all about choice.