30 years after cluttering up PC keyboards with the Home windows key, the important thing liable for booting you to desktop on the worst attainable second in your Dota 2 match, Microsoft is poised to as soon as once more rework our keyboards.
The corporate at present unveiled the Copilot key, a brand new button that may assist usher in, as Microsoft government vp Yusuf Mehdi put it, “a major shift towards a extra private and clever computing future the place AI can be seamlessly woven into Home windows from the system, to the silicon, to the {hardware}.”
Primarily based on promotional pictures, the Copilot key seems to be like it can change the menu key that at present sits to the correct of the spacebar. Mehdi stated the button will begin to seem on new Home windows 11 PCs from Microsoft’s “ecosystem companions” within the days main as much as and at CES, which will get underway January 5—that is tomorrow—with availability set to start later in January.
“The introduction of the Copilot key marks the primary important change to the Home windows PC keyboard in almost three a long time,” Mehdi wrote. “We consider it can empower individuals to take part within the AI transformation extra simply. The Copilot key joins the Home windows key as a core a part of the PC keyboard and when pressed, the brand new key will invoke the Copilot in Home windows expertise to make it seamless to have interaction Copilot in your day after day.
“Practically 30 years in the past, we launched the Home windows key to the PC keyboard that enabled individuals everywhere in the world to work together with Home windows. We see this as one other transformative second in our journey with Home windows the place Copilot would be the entry level into the world of AI on the PC.”
We took a more in-depth take a look at Copilot final yr and located it, very like the remainder of the AI revolution, not fairly able to ship on the hype. However there’s additionally a way of inevitability to it: “AI all up in your OS appears to be right here to remain, and this newest replace could very effectively be the start of a brand new daybreak to your on a regular basis computing expertise, whether or not you prefer it or not,” {hardware} editor Andy Edser wrote. “Change is within the air, and it could be the beginning of a complete new manner of interacting along with your OS in years to come back.”
AI will little doubt proceed to evolve, though whether or not it turns into “higher” in any significant sense or just accelerates the enshittification of varied points of the web stays to be seen. The identical will be stated for Microsoft’s dedication to make Copilot occur: Will anybody really use this new button, or will Copilot merely develop into a brand new Cortana, the ill-fated “digital voice assistant” all of us labored so laborious to eliminate? I will not say I believe it is going to be the latter, however I do must admit that I am not desirous to embrace an “on a regular basis AI companion for work and life” simply but.
In case there’s any doubt, sure, I’m nonetheless aggravated by the entire Home windows key factor. 101 keys was loads, and it left a pleasant house the place the aspect of my hand might relaxation with out popping up the beginning menu repeatedly. I hated it a lot I did not make the transfer to a 104-key unit till late in 2023, and after I did I made certain I bought one which had an choice to disable the Home windows key totally. (An ROG Strix Flare, when you’re curious.)
Particular timing on the rollout of the brand new Copilot key will range “by market and system,” and naturally you may must be logged in with a Microsoft account to make use of it. If you happen to’re not logged in, or occur to stay in an space the place Copilot is not obtainable, the brand new key will launch Home windows Search as a substitute.