Microsoft needs 2024 to be “the year of the AI PC,” and it’s kicking issues off with a major change to the keyboard on new laptops and PCs. A brand new Copilot key will ship on quite a lot of new PCs and laptops from Microsoft’s companions, offering fast entry to Microsoft’s AI-powered Home windows Copilot expertise straight from a keyboard button press.
The Copilot key’s the primary large change to the Home windows PC keyboard format in practically three many years. “Nearly 30 years ago, we introduced the Windows key to the PC keyboard that enabled people all over the world to interact with Windows,” says Yusuf Mehdi, government vp and shopper chief advertising officer at Microsoft. “We see this as another transformative moment in our journey with Windows where Copilot will be the entry point into the world of AI on the PC.”
This new Copilot key will exchange the menu key (software key) that was launched alongside the Home windows key many years in the past. Will probably be positioned subsequent to the right-hand alt key on most keyboards, with the location various by OEM and throughout totally different markets. It’s in the identical spot the place Microsoft added a devoted Workplace key to its personal keyboards in 2019. The Copilot key merely launches the Home windows Copilot that’s constructed into Home windows 11, providing up a ChatGPT-like chatbot that may reply queries and even take actions inside Home windows.
If Home windows Copilot isn’t obtainable in your nation simply but, the Copilot key will launch Home windows Search as an alternative. Whereas the present Home windows key can open the Begin menu or be mixed with quite a lot of different keys for shortcuts to Home windows options and features, the Copilot key’s only a launch key for now. It’s not clear if Microsoft plans to allow you to use the Copilot key together with different keys sooner or later.
Microsoft isn’t discussing which OEMs will add the Copilot key, leaving the bulletins for subsequent week’s Shopper Electronics Present and past. Mehdi says we’ll “start to see the Copilot key unveiled on new Windows 11 PCs from our ecosystem partners, with availability beginning later this month through Spring, including on upcoming Surface devices.”
It appears like Microsoft has been constructing Copilot into every little thing all through 2023, and this new Copilot key’s a part of greater AI-powered modifications which can be deliberate for Home windows all through 2024. “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,” says Mehdi. “This will not only simplify people’s computing experience but also amplify it, making 2024 the year of the AI PC.”
Microsoft is engaged on a Home windows “refresh” that will likely be targeted on new AI options, alongside including AI to increasingly components of its software program and providers. Microsoft has even began the 12 months by branding Microsoft Edge because the “AI browser,” signaling that Microsoft’s AI push is much from over.