Microsoft’s rumored Copilot refresh could turn the AI chatbot into a personalized virtual news presenter — spreading its wings beyond image generation and search
Aside from generating images and helping you scour the internet, Microsoft’s Copilot app could be your personalized AI news presenter.
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What you need to know
For the better part of this year, things have been fairly quiet on the Microsoft Copilot front, especially after the Redmond giant announced its plan tostop shipping new experiencesto improve and enhance existing ones. It’s only recently that the company resumed shipping new Copilot experiences at its just-concluded special Copilot experience, includingCopilot agentsandCopilot Pages.
Before the event, The Verge’s Tom Warren indicated that Microsoft had plans to rebrand its Copilot AI assistant in “the most Microsoft way possible.” It’s unclear if the rebrand referred to the new Copilot agents and Copilot Pages. And now, a new report by Warren suggests Microsoft couldturn Copilot into an AI presenter that can read you the news.
The reported rebrand is centered on Microsoft’s Copilot mobile app, which will ship with a new feature that transforms the AI assistant into a virtual news presenter. According to Warren’s sources, Microsoft has been testing the refreshed Copilot app for weeks, which is tangent to other Microsoft apps.
Just like Microsoft News (MSN) or Google Discover, users can select topics they’d like featured in the redesigned Copilot’s newsfeed. The suggested topics will be based on your interests and Copilot history. Warren further suggests, “The AI assistant might offer to generate a story for you one day, ask if you to do a workout the next, or simply surface the latest sports scores without you having to ask for them.”
Microsoft is playing chess with OpenAI’s ChatGPT
Admittedly, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has had the upper hand onMicrosoft Copilot, considering it was launched a few months earlier and is backed by a powerful company focused on developing and improving AI-based technology. This trend continues to be the case, even though both chatbots share similar capabilities.
A recent report by Appfigures indicatesOpenAI’s GPT-4o launchled toChatGPT’s “biggest spike ever” in revenue and downloads on mobile. Incidentally, the chatbot recentlysurpassed 200 million weekly active users. Market analysts and experts attributed Copilot AI’s slow adoption to Microsoft’s poor marketing practices.
Elsewhere, Microsoft insiders claim the top complaint aboutCopilot is that it doesn’t work as well as ChatGPT. The tech giant countered these claims by indicating that this isn’t the case, further indicating that users aren’t using Copilot as intended, coupled with poor prompt engineering practices. Consequently,Microsoft recently launched Copilot Academyto help address some of the highlighted issues.
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The reported Copilot rebrand could drive users to the AI chatbot with its unique “card-based interface” and AI-generated images. This means that users could interact with Copilot beyond generating images and queries. “You can scroll through a list of topics and suggestions without ever having to type to Copilot,” added Warren.
This is a developing story, we’ll keep tabs on any new developments and keep you posted.
Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. You’ll also catch him occasionally contributing at iMore about Apple and AI. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.
