Microsoft's Mico heightens the risks of parasocial LLM relationships

"Mico is part of a Microsoft program dedicated to the idea that "technology should work in service of people," Microsoft wrote. The company insists this effort is "not [about] chasing engagement or optimizing for screen time. We're building AI that gets you back to your life. That deepens human connection." Mico has drawn instant and obvious comparisons to Clippy, the animated paperclip that popped up to offer help with Microsoft Office starting in the '90s. Microsoft has leaned into this comparison with an Easter egg that can transform Mico into an animated Clippy."

""Clippy walked so that we could run," Microsoft AI Corporate VP Jacob Andreou joked in an interview with The Verge. "We all live in Clippy's shadow in some sense." But while Clippy was an attempt to strengthen our connection to sterile Windows Help menus, Mico seems focused more on strengthening the parasocial relationships many people are already developing with LLMs. The defining interaction with Clippy was along the lines of "It looks like you're writing a letter, would you like some help?" With Mico, the idea seems to be "It looks like you're trying to find a friend. Would you like help?""

Microsoft introduced Mico, an animated blob-like avatar for Copilot’s voice mode as part of a human-centered rebranding of Copilot AI efforts. The program emphasizes that technology should work in service of people and rejects optimizing for engagement or screen time, aiming to build AI that returns users to their lives and deepens human connection. Mico evokes Clippy, and includes an Easter egg that transforms it into an animated Clippy. Microsoft positions Mico toward friend-like interactions, seeking to strengthen parasocial relationships that users increasingly form with large language models.

Read at Ars Technica