Microsoft debuts a more buttoned-up look for Copilot - Engadget

Copilot’s personality has been removed to create a more consistent experience. Microsoft is overhauling Copilot’s visual design for the Microsoft 365 version, aiming for a streamlined look across Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The interface now uses mostly black and white styling by default, while still allowing full-color outputs and referencing other apps through their colorful icons. Microsoft also introduces a new prompt surface that changes size and reveals functions as users type. Text-only requests remain supported, while references to research or visualization expand the prompt with menu options for selecting files and guiding visual responses. Copilot appears in a consistent side pane location across Microsoft 365 apps, matching the standalone Copilot experience.

"The most striking difference in Copilot's new look is how little color it has. You can still get Copilot to produce full-color outputs and it will reference other apps by their colorful app icons. By default, though, the Copilot interface is now a largely black and white, text-forward affair. Part of this change was driven by a desire to make everything more readable and responsive, but Microsoft suggests it's also reflective of an attempt to “craft intelligence that feels present but not imposing.”"

"That approach also applies to the tweaks Microsoft querying the AI assistant itself. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app and the Copilot experience in Microsoft apps feature a new “prompt surface” that changes size and reveals new functions as you type. You can input a purely text-based request to Copilot and it will answer, but if you refer to the AI assistant's other skills, like the ability to research or visualize, the text box will unfurl menu options for selecting files or guiding Copilot's visual responses."

"The app's new side panels and menus, which collapse when not in use, are another example of this approach. Importantly, these changes also apply to how Copilot appears in apps like Word. The AI is now available in a consistent location across all Microsoft 365 apps - a side pane - and works similarly to the standalone Copilot app."

"Copilot is getting yet another visual overhaul as Microsoft reconsiders its approach to AI across Windows and its various apps. The new changes are focused on the version of Copilot accessible in Microsoft 365, and visually streamline the AI assistant to using it more consistent across apps like Word, PowerPoint and Excel."

Read at Engadget