Microsoft’s ‘AI Clippy’ Gives Me the Creeps

Here’s a hot take for you: I’ve always loved Clippy. Maybe it’s because I was an only child, but as useless as the animated paperclip (officially known as “Clippit,” btw) was for advising me, I liked having a buddy on my desk while I worked on essays. Today, Microsoft is bringing back that same energy, but for AI. And finally, I think I understand Clippy’s hatred.

Called Mico, the character is part of the fall release of Copilot, which includes a dozen new updates. Some of these are what you’d expect now: there’s a new memory feature that ensures every new conversation doesn’t start from scratch, and better integration with external apps like Gmail or Google Calendar. But there are a few other ideas as well, like using Copilot mode in Edge (originally released in July) to resume old browsing sessions where you left off, even if you’ve already closed all your tabs.

By far the most unexpected update, however, is Microsoft going back to its old trends of animated mascots. Mico is not the first AI companion, nor the most expressive. Grok will sell you a whole anime girlfriend, if you like that. But it brings to mind a pedigree that I once thought long buried (and now, I realize, perhaps for good reason).

Like Clippy, and unlike Grok, Mico leans more towards the cute side of things and is just a disembodied, smiling blob. It’s entirely optional, but the idea is that it works with Copilot’s voice input to make you feel like you’re being listened to, changing colors and reacting based on the tone of the conversation.

If this all seems a little vague, that’s because Mico (and the rest of the fall release of Copilot) is still rolling out. I don’t have access to it yet, so the best I can do is watch this video shared by Microsoft.

The idea, however, is clearly to make AI more user-friendly. Microsoft announced Mico in a post titled “Human-centered AI” and made a point of introducing the character alongside a new “real conversation” mode, which the company says “carefully questions assumptions, adapts to your mood, and helps conversations spark growth and connection.”

And I think this is where I finally start to raise my eyebrows a little. On the plus side, in Microsoft’s video, Mico doesn’t appear to actually speak, but rather play simple animations. It’s not going to build a parasocial relationship with you to the extent that Elon Musk’s AI-animated girlfriend does, which comes with a romance bar to take it to the next level. On the other hand, though, it still feels like a way of letting my guard down.

Describing Mico to The Verge, Jacob Andreou, vice president of product and growth at Microsoft AI, said: “All the technology takes a backseat, and you just start talking to this cute orb and making this connection with it.”

But what does it mean to be “connected” to a face intrinsically linked to a product?

Essentially, with Mico, you’re now looking at a big smiley face every time you interact with Microsoft’s AI, even if it keeps trying to stare at your screen, redirect your web traffic, or overload your computer with features that TechRadar tests show can hurt performance. Maybe in fact I should I need to stay on guard when interacting with AI and not let the technology fade from my mind.

For example, the release of Mico comes a week after Microsoft announced an initiative to “make every Windows 11 PC an AI PC.” It’s no wonder the company wants to give it a friendly face while announcing features that work for you based on simple voice commands. But am I comfortable with a future where I simply tell my computer what I want, with little direct involvement, and expect the company that runs the cloud that powers it to know what that means?

To some extent, I can see the convenience in this. But that also leaves me to the whims of Microsoft, and it’s hard not to see Mico’s friendly smile as a way to pass this off as a good thing, rather than a loss of control. At least Clippy could look sarcastic.

Maybe I’m exaggerating, but in the same blog where Microsoft introduced Mico, it also launched “Copilot for Health” and “Learn Live”. In the first case, the company actively encourages you to ask your health questions to its AI, while the second is supposed to let Copilot act as a “voice-controlled Socratic tutor.” Microsoft promises that Copilot for Health, at least, relies on credible sources like Harvard Health, but as AI continues to face security risks and accusations of model collapse, I remain skeptical about letting it help with self-diagnosis or tutoring my child.

And maybe it’s my fault. When I finally get the fall version of Copilot, it might prove itself. But Mico is exactly the type of mascot destined to dismantle skepticism while he’s still healthy. This benefits Microsoft, but “business-centric AI” and “human-centric AI” are not the same thing.

At best, I think Mico will come across as unpleasant, in the same way that forced positivity usually does. But at worst, it seems like a first attempt to make your computer a friend you ask, rather than a machine you own. As users fight for the right to repair and warn of the loss of technological knowledge among people who spend all their time with computers, it’s hard not to see the idea of ​​Copilot as a friend rather than something a little more sinister.

Clippy connections aren’t just in my head, for what that’s worth. Andreou also told The Verge that “Clippy worked for us [Mico] might run.” But as Halloween approaches, I’d like to remind Microsoft that sometimes it’s better to die.