After recent leaks about upcoming Surface devices hinted at the inclusion of a dedicated Copilot key, Microsoft confirmed that the Copilot key is real and is coming to Surface and other PCs in 2024.
The company published a blog post ahead of CES 2024, noting that people will “start to see the Copilit key on many of the new Windows 11 PCs from our ecosystem partners… including on upcoming Surface devices.”
Copilot, if you aren’t familiar, is Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant in Windows 11 and other products. People with access to Copilot can already summon it via a taskbar shortcut or by pressing the Windows key and ‘C’ on your keyboard. But soon, you won’t need to laboriously press two keys to get Copilot — you can just press one key. Innovation!
Microsoft is so hyped about the Copilot key that it made a whole video about pressing it:
The company clearly thinks Copilot is a big deal, big enough to warrant its own dedicated key — something that the now-defunct Cortana digital assistant didn’t even get. Here are some choice quotes from the blog post illustrating that:
“In this new year, we will be ushering in a significant shift toward a more personal and intelligent computing future where AI will be seamlessly woven into Windows from the system, to the silicon, to the hardware. This will not only simplify people’s computing experience but also amplify it, making 2024 the year of the AI PC.”
“The introduction of the Copilot key marks the first significant change to the Windows PC keyboard in nearly three decades.”
“As we embark on this new year, we are filled with optimism and excitement. We will continue to build Windows to be the destination for the best AI experiences. This will require an operating system that blurs the lines between local and cloud processing.”
Frankly, I’m not convinced. I’ve had Copilot access for months across various PCs and have yet to find a use case for it beyond turning dark mode on or off. It’s not worth using for work since any time Copilot might save me would be wasted on rigorously fact-checking it since it’s so reliably unreliable. Maybe Microsoft will prove me wrong this year.
Header image credit: Microsoft
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