In perhaps one of the biggest updates since Microsoft launched Copilot as Bing AI in 2023, the Windows company is rolling out a dozen updates to Copilot (and Edge), some of which are sure to transform your experience with the AI platform.
The updates, which include a new face for Copilot and Journeys to help you digest your online activities and proactively recommend next steps, range from Edge Browser and Windows experiences to the mobile app. They are all free and included in Windows 11 (and Windows 10) installations today.
AI together
The first, and possibly biggest change, and arguably signals a fundamental shift in the way we work with generative AI systems, is groups.
As the name suggests, Groups lets you invite other people to your Copilot session and then you can start creating messages together, each asking their own questions, and “collaborate in real time with friends, classmates, and family,” Andreou explained.
Think of it like a group Zoom or FaceTime call, but powered by generative AI. The group could brainstorm with Copilot, create drafts, and maybe even establish a study group.
It could also be useful in situations where, for example, you are planning a family trip and want input from all family members. Then everyone will use Copilot to help add ideas and research destinations, hotels, and itineraries. At TechRadar, we’ve found that AI can be very helpful when planning group vacations.
Andreou, who has had access to the new features for some time, said he used them with his wife to figure out how to transition kittens to older cat food.
“I was working with Copilot and coming up with the plan, and I added her directly to the chat and she was able to request the follow-up, so we were able to do it together.”
As for how this affects chat history and who can see what, Andreou told me that chat invitees will see prompts and responses related to that chat, but nothing else about the co-pilot’s interactions.
“The system stops using memory, for example, as soon as you bring someone else in, because we want to make sure that your personal data remains private,” he added.
AI personality
Microsoft is also adding more personality to Copilot in the form of “Mico” (a portmanteau of “Microsoft” and “Copilot”). It’s similar to the original Copilot app blob, but now has a face.
Andreou called it a “warm, expressive and customizable visual appearance.” Their expressions will, in a sense, match your mood. If you enter a sad message, Mico may appear sad. “It has incredible performance,” Andreou told me, “but all the technology takes a backseat.”
It’s been a while since Microsoft had an incredibly useful digital character. I wondered if Mico’s face might be a bit Clippy-esque. Andreou laughed and told me, “We have a little Easter egg hidden in the product for people who end up playing Miko more, where we’ll follow in our footsteps from what came before.”
The next update, Real Talk, appears to counter concerns about the overly symphonic nature of some AI chatbot models. Microsoft calls it its first “advanced personality” model.
Andreou told me that it is more inventive, adds its own perspective and can be more challenging.
“It’s not just someone who’s there to just be an entertainer… this is a model that could actually push back and could help you think things through, but also provoke deeper conversations.”
Unlike OpenAI, which imposed the more serious GPT-5 model on everyone, Microsoft offers Real Talk as an option. Andreou admitted that this type of “conversation” is not for everyone, but some may appreciate it.
“I think it will lead to incredible conversations and a lot of learnings, attributes and personality that we will bring back to the overall product over time,” he added.
Copilot’s memory is also being updated to better align with the competition, remembering the details you share about yourself and your activities. If, for example, you mention a family member’s birthday in a message, Copilot will remember it. “It will make interactions and responses feel much more natural and much more connected,” Andreou told me.
Checking on checking
One of the things Microsoft learned about Copilot is that 40% of users ask questions related to the health of the AI during the first weeks of using the platform. Other studies have found that 1 in 6 adults under 30 turn to ChatGPT for health advice.
It’s with those statistics in mind that Microsoft promises to make all of Copilot’s health-related answers based on “clinical sources.” Andreou cited Harvard Health as one of them. Copilot users will see details about clinically reliable sources for each health-related answer.
The AI platform, however, will go a step further, connecting you with relevant doctors who are nearby and, if possible, in your coverage network.
“We will never try to be the end of these kinds of conversations,” Andreou said. “As soon as we deem it appropriate, we will redirect you to find doctors who can help you talk to someone in the real world who can help you.”
Of course, Copilot cannot recommend an in-network healthcare provider unless you share your insurance provider at some point during the chat. It’s unclear how many people will feel comfortable doing that.
The latest AI browser
Copilot has been part of the Edge browser for some time, but just in time for OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas browser, Microsoft is fully launching Copilot mode in Edge, which the company first teased last July.
There’s quite a bit of agent activity in the browser, like having you check your email and scroll through your social feeds, but Andreou points to local actions as some of the most powerful new features, including Journeys.
“Journeys analyzes your browsing history and basically helps you pick up where you left off.” he explained.
Edge and Copilot modes make sense of what you’ve been doing, and when you return, you’re ready for the next step.
Andreou told me that he uses Journeys to search for new candidates during the job interview process.
“Copilot often takes a back seat and tries to get more information for me and help me get back in,” he added.
Microsoft seems to be betting on the vigilant digital assistant (with its permission, of course, and despite the unfortunate recovery history). Andreou described a redesigned home page that features recent apps, files, and conversations. It almost sounds like a new Windows Start screen, and in some ways it is.
“You can imagine Copilot’s new home page becoming the starting point for computing on your Windows computer.”
A question of models
While much of Copilot has historically been built on OpenAI models like GPT-5, Andreou confirmed that they still use a collection of OpenAI models. However, I was not prepared to list all the models that work in this important Copilot update.
“At every point in our stack, whether it’s the core text response model, the reasoning models we use under the hood, the image generation models we use, we are constantly evaluating all the available options we have to serve our community. And that means that in many parts of the product, we are still, through our partnership with OpenAI, serving their next-generation frontier models.”
Andreou, however, also echoed other AI-focused tech companies I’ve spoken to, telling me, “That also means we want to maintain the flexibility to, in parts of our product, use the best model for the job.”
Microsoft later clarified Andreou’s comments with this statement:
“OpenAI remains our partner on frontier models and our consumer AI model strategy remains unchanged. We will continue to use the best models from our team, our partners, and the latest innovations from the open source community to drive our products. “This gives us the greatest flexibility to create AI that delivers the best results across millions of unique interactions every day.”
As for where you’ll find these features, which are available today (October 23), Browser Actions won’t appear in the mobile app, but the app will get Mico.
Microsoft’s Copilot experiences differ from those of Google and OpenAI in another way: most of them are free, and in some cases, you don’t even need a Microsoft account. Andreou reminded me that they support Google and Apple accounts. “There is not one feature out of the twelve that is locked behind a subscription,” Andreou said.
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