In perhaps one of the most significant updates since Microsoft launched Copilot as Bing AI in 2023, the Windows company is rolling out a dozen Copilot (and Edge) updates, a handful of which are sure to transform your experience with the AI platform.
The updates, which include a new face for Copilot and Journeys to help you digest your online activities and proactively recommend next steps, range from the Edge Browser and Windows experiences to the mobile app. They’re all free on Windows 11 (and Windows 10) installations today.
AI together
The first and arguably biggest change, and arguably one that signals a fundamental shift in how we work with generative AI systems, is groups.
As the name suggests, Groups lets you invite other people into your Copilot session, and then you can start building prompts together, each asking your own questions and “collaborating in real time with friends, with classmates, with family,” Andreou explained.
Think of it as a group Zoom or FaceTime call, but supercharged with generative AI. The group could brainstorm with Copilot, make drafts, and maybe even create a study group.
It can also be useful in situations where you e.g. planning a family trip and want input from all family members. Then you all use Copilot to help add ideas and research about destinations, hotels and itineraries. At TechRadar, we’ve found that artificial intelligence can be quite useful for planning group vacations.
Andreou, who has had access to the new features for some time, said he used it with his wife to figure out how to switch kittens to more adult cat food.
“I worked with Copilot and figured out the plan and I just added her directly to the chat and she was able to ask for the follow-up so we were able to do it together.”
As for how this affects chat history and who can see what, Andreou told me that those invited to the chat will see the messages and replies related to that chat, but nothing else about your copilot interactions.
“The system stops using memory, for example, as soon as you bring someone else in because we want to make sure your personal information stays private,” he added.
AI personality
Microsoft is also adding more personality to Copilot in the form of “Mico” (a mashup of “Microsoft” and “Copilot”). It looks like the Copilot app’s original blob, but now it has a face.
Andreou called it a “warm, expressive, custom visual look.” Its expression will sort of match your mood. If you enter a sad prompt, Mico can look sad. “It’s incredibly performant,” Andreou told me, “but all the technology fades into the background.”
It’s been a while since Microsoft had an incredibly helpful digital character. I wondered if maybe Mico’s face was a little Clippy-ish. Andreou laughed and told me, “We have a little easter egg hidden in the product for the people who end up playing with Miko the most, where we get to follow in our footsteps of what’s come before.”
The next update, Real Talk, appears to counter concerns about the overly synchphantic nature of some AI chatbot models. Microsoft calls it its first “personality-forward” model.
Andreou told me it’s more witty, adds his own perspective and can be more challenging.
“It’s not just someone who’s there to just be a cheerleader… this is a model that can actually really push back and actually both help you think things through, but also actually spark some deeper conversations.”
Unlike OpenAI, which forced the more stable GPT-5 model on everyone, Microsoft offers Real Talk as an option. Andreou admitted that this kind of “conversation” isn’t for everyone, but some might appreciate it.
“I think it’s going to lead to great conversations and a ton of learning, of attributes, of personality that we’ll bring back to the overall product over time,” he added.
Copilot’s memory is also being upgraded to better match competitors and remember details you share about yourself and your activities. For example, if you talk about a family member’s birthday in a prompt, Copilot will remember it. “It will make the interactions and responses feel much more natural and much more connected, Andreou told me.
Check up on control
One of the things Microsoft learned about Copilot is that 40% of users ask AI health-related questions within the first few weeks of using the platform. Other studies have found that 1-in-6 adults under 30 turn to ChatGPT for health advice.
It’s with these statistics in mind that Microsoft promises to make all of Copilot’s health-related answers based on “clinical sources.” Andreou cited Harvard Health as one of them. Copilot users will see details of clinically reliable sources for each health-related answer.
However, the AI platform will go a step further and connect you with relevant doctors who are nearby and if possible in your coverage network.
“We’re never going to try to be the end all of these kinds of conversations,” Andreou said, “As soon as we think it’s appropriate, we’ll redirect you to find clinicians who can help you talk to someone in the real world who can help you.”
Of course, Copilot cannot recommend an in-network healthcare provider unless you share your insurance provider at some point during the chat. It is unclear how many people will be comfortable doing so.
The latest AI browser
Copilot has been part of the Edge browser for some time, but just in time for OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas browser, Microsoft is fully releasing Copilot Mode in Edge, which the company first teased last July.
There’s some agent activity in the browser, like having it go through your email and scroll through your social feeds, but Andreou points to the local actions as some of the most powerful new features, including Journeys.
“Journeys looks at your browsing history and basically helps you pick up where you left off.” he explained.
Edge and Copilot mode makes sense of what you’ve been up to, and when you return, it’s ready for a next step.
Andreou told me he uses Journeys to vet new candidates during the job interview process.
“Copilot will often go in the background and try to get me some more information and help me jump back in,” he added.
Microsoft seems to be going all in on the awake digital assistant (with your permission, of course, and despite the unfortunate history of recalls). Andreou described a redesigned website that includes the latest apps, files and conversations. It almost sounds like a new Windows start screen, and in a way it is.
“You can kind of imagine that the new Copilot website will be the starting point for computing on your Windows computer.”
A question about models
While much of Copilot has historically been built on OpenAI models like GPT-5, Andreou confirmed that they still use a collection of OpenAI models. However, he wasn’t prepared to list all the models at work in this major Copilot update.
“At any point in our stack, whether it’s the primary text response model, the reasoning models that we use under the hood, the image generation models that we use, we’re constantly evaluating all the available options that we have to serve our community. And so that means that in many parts of the product, we’re still, through our partnership with OpenAI, serving their top models.”
However, Andreou also echoed other AI-focused tech companies I’ve spoken to, telling me, “It also means we want to maintain the flexibility to, in parts of our product, use the best model for the job.”
Microsoft later clarified Andreou’s comments with this statement:
“OpenAI remains our partner on frontier models and our consumer AI model strategy remains unchanged. We will continue to use the very best models from our team, our partners, and the latest innovations from the open source community to power our products. This gives us the greatest flexibility to build AI that delivers the best results across millions of unique interactions every day.”
As for where you’ll find these features, all of which are available today (October 23), browser actions won’t appear in the mobile app, but the app will get Mico.
Microsoft’s Copilot experiences differ from Google and OpenAI in another way: Most of them are free, and in some cases you don’t even need a Microsoft account. Andreou reminded me that they support Google and Apple accounts. “There is no function of the twelve that is blocked behind a subscription,” said Andreou.
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