"When you talk about something sad, you can see Mico's face change. You can see it dance around and move as it gets excited with you,"
"It's in this effort of really landing this AI companion that you can really feel."
"It was not well-attuned to user needs at the time,"
"Microsoft pushed it, we resisted it and they got rid of it. I think we're much more ready for things like that today."
Mico is a new animated AI character that embodies Microsoft's Copilot, appearing as a floating, emoji-like face that changes color, spins, and wears glasses in 'study' mode. Copilot users in the U.S. on laptops and phone apps can speak to Mico, which reacts visually and vocally and can be turned off easily. The design seeks a middle ground between faceless symbols and humanlike avatars to offer a friendly companion without being obsequious. The effort responds to past user resistance to persistent assistants like Clippy and reflects industry debate over balancing personality, usefulness and potential harm.
Read at Fast Company
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