Say “goodbye” to Mico and a handful of AI tools, Microsoft Copilot users.
According to new Microsoft support documents, the tech giant is making major changes to its AI assistant, Copilot.
The biggest change to Copilot is that it will no longer exist as separate apps for consumer and business use. Microsoft will merge both the consumer Copilot app and the business-oriented Microsoft 365 Copilot app into a single application.
During this process, Microsoft is also killing off some lesser-used features, including Mico, its animated Clippy-like Copilot mascot. Mico is a blob-like animated character who currently lives in Copilot as an AI companion.
According to Microsoft, Mico will be removed as part of a wave of Copilot updates rolling out to users throughout August. While Microsoft is killing Mico off in Copilot, the company says Mico will have a new home on a much less-used Microsoft platform, Learn Live, where the character will work as a tutor for users.
But Mico isn’t the only Copilot element that Microsoft is ditching.
Microsoft is also removing Copilot’s Group Chat, Podcasts, Deep Research, and experimental Copilot Labs features.
Group Chats are a Copilot feature that allows multiple users to collaborate in a single Copilot AI chat. The Podcast feature enabled users to create AI-generated podcasts based on web interests and documents. Deep Research is a feature Microsoft dubbed a personal research assistant for creating detailed reports. Copilot Labs provided Copilot users with access to early-stage features.
According to Microsoft, these four AI features will sunset on Aug. 18. All related generated content will also be removed. So, if a user has group chats or podcasts that they’d like to save, they need to export the content by that date.
Microsoft says it’s making these changes to Copilot to “create a simpler, more cohesive experience for everyone.”
However, a report from The Information late last year revealed more pressing problems with Microsoft’s suite of AI tools. The company had significantly reduced AI-related sales targets as Copilot increasingly lost market share to AI tools from companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Source: https://mashable.com/tech/microsoft-ditches-copilot-mascot-mico-ai-features-merges-apps
