Microsoft Adds Copilot Button to Keyboards

Microsoft is putting its artificial intelligence Copilot tool at users’ fingertips.

The tech giant said in a Thursday (Jan. 4) blog post it is adding a button to the Windows keyboard that will activate Copilot, a move that marks Microsoft’s first keyboard layout change in nearly 30 years.

The change is also part of Microsoft’s goal of making AI “seamlessly woven into Windows from the system, to the silicon, to the hardware,” Microsoft Consumer Chief Marketing Officer Yusuf Mehdi wrote in the post. “This will not only simplify people’s computing experience but also amplify it, making 2024 the year of the AI PC.”

When pressed, the Copilot button will call up Copilot and let users do things like draft emails, create images and change the settings on their PCs, the post said.

Microsoft plans to showcase the new feature at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week as it adds the Copilot key to new Windows 11 PCs and — in the future — to the company’s Surface devices.

This year’s CES will show AI moving from “the world of engineering and technology to the province of consumers, commerce and the connected economy,” with companies like Samsung and Qualcomm showcasing their products.

“We didn’t get the full CES fire hose of AI announcements last year like we’re going to have,” said Anshel Sag, a principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. “If you thought it was a wave last year, it’s going to be a tsunami this year.”

While past CES events have focused on technology like 5G and the metaverse, this year’s take on AI is “decidedly more practical,” PYMNTS wrote Wednesday (Jan. 3), with CES research indicating that consumers have begun incorporating the tech into day-to-day activities.

The new Copilot key follows last month’s launch of an app called Copilot for Android, which lets users access the AI tool without the Bing mobile app.

Microsoft debuted Copilot in September as part of a free update to Windows 11. The move marked a big step in the go-to-market phase shift for generative AI.

“The technology and its revolutionary capabilities have already spurred a profound change in how end-users access and activate information, as well as the way people more broadly use the internet and interact across data-rich environments, with millions using AI to boost their creativity and improve productivity,” PYMNTS wrote Dec. 27.

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.