Microsoft's Clippy-like Mico character is no longer the face of Copilot

Microsoft Copilot will no longer show its emotive yellow blob, Mico, when using the chatbot's voice mode. Microsoft announced on a support page that it will move Mico to its Learn Live platform, where the avatar will have 'more to react to,' as reported by GeekWire. Mico launched in Copilot's voice mode last October, with Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman pitching the avatar as a way to give the chatbot an 'identity.' The blob would react to what you say in real-time with facial expressions and animations. Mico joins a long list of retired Microsoft virtual helpers like Clippy, Cortana, and Rover. Microsoft's support page states that Mico helped them learn about warmth and expressiveness, and those learnings are shaping Copilot going forward. Microsoft is removing Mico from Copilot 'in waves.' This change is part of Microsoft's plans to merge its Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot apps and comes months after an AI reshuffling that put Jacob Andreou in charge of Copilot while Suleyman turned to developing new AI models.