Microsoft's 'AI Clippy' Gives Me the Creeps

Here's a hot take for you: I always kind of liked Clippy. Maybe it's because I was an only child, but as useless as the animated paperclip (officially known as "Clippit," by the way) was for advice, I did enjoy having a buddy on my desktop while I worked on essays. Now, Microsoft is bringing that same energy back, but for AI. And, finally, I think I understand the Clippy hate.

Called Mico, the character is part of Copilot's fall release, which includes a dozen new updates. Some of these are what you'd expect by now: There's a new memory feature that ensures every new conversation doesn't start from scratch, and better integration with outside apps like Gmail or Google Calendar. But there's also a few more out-there ideas, like using Copilot Mode in Edge (which originally released in July) to pick up old browsing sessions right where you left off, even if you already closed all your tabs.

By far, though, the most unexpected update is for Microsoft to lean back into its old animated mascot tendencies. Mico isn't the first AI companion, nor is it the most expressive. Grok will sell you on a whole anime girlfriend, if you're into that. But it does call back to a pedigree I once thought long buried (and now, I realize, maybe for good reason).

Like Clippy, and unlike Grok, Mico leans more towards the cute side of things, and is just a small, smiling, disembodied 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 color and reacting based on the tone of the conversation.

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

The idea, though, is clearly to make AI seem friendlier. Microsoft announced Mico in a post titled "Human-centered AI," and made a point out of debuting the character alongside a new "real talk" mode, which the company says "challenges assumptions with care, adapts to your vibe, and helps conversations spark growth and connection."

And I think that's where I finally start to raise my eyebrows a bit. On the plus side, in Microsoft's video, Mico doesn't appear to actually talk, so much as play simple animations. It's not going to build a parasocial relationship with you to the degree that Elon Musk's animated AI girlfriend, which comes with a romance bar to level up, does. On the other hand, though, it still feels like a way to lower my guard.

Describing Mico to The Verge, corporate VP of product and growth at Microsoft AI Jacob Andreou said "All the technology fades into the background, and you just start talking to this cute orb and build this connection with it."

But what does it mean to be "connected" to a face that is inherently tied to a product?

Essentially, with Mico, you're now looking at a big smiley face whenever you interact with Microsoft's AI, even as it continues to try to look at your screen, or redirect your web traffic, or bloat your computer with features that, according to testing done by TechRadar, can hurt performance. Maybe, actually, I should have my guard up when interacting with AI and not letting the technology fade out of my mind.

For instance, Mico's release 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 it advertises features that take action for you based on simple voice commands. But am I comfortable with a future where I just tell my computer what I want, with little direct involvement, and expect the company that runs the cloud powering it to know what that means?

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

Maybe I'm overreacting, but in the same blog where Microsoft introduced Mico, it also debuted "Copilot for health" and "Learn Live." In the former, the company actively encourages you to take your health questions to its AI, while the latter supposedly lets Copilot act as a "voice-enabled Socratic tutor." Microsoft promises that Copilot for health, at least, pulls from credible sources like Harvard Health, but as AI continues to face security risks and accusations of model collapse, I remain skeptical about letting it aid in self-diagnosing or tutoring my kid.

And perhaps that's on me. When I finally get Copilot's fall release, it could prove itself. But Mico is the exact type of mascot that's meant to dismantle skepticism while it's still healthy. It benefits Microsoft, but "corporate-centered AI" and "human-centered AI" aren't the same thing.

At best, I think Mico will seem obnoxious, in the same way enforced positivity usually does. But at worst, it comes across as a first attempt to make your computer seem like a friend you make requests of, rather than a machine you own. While users fight for right-to-repair and warn about dropping tech literacy 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 bit more sinister.

The Clippy connections aren't just in my head, for what it's worth. Andreou also told The Verge that "Clippy walked so that we [Mico] could run." But as we approach Halloween, I'd like to remind Microsoft that sometimes, dead is better.

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