Read Microsoft’s optimistic memo about the future of AI companions

We’re living through a technological paradigm shift. In a few short years, our computers have learnt to speak our languages, to see what we see and hear what we hear.

Yet technology for its own sake counts for nothing. What matters is how it feels to people and what impact it has on societies. It’s about how it changes lives, opens doors, expands minds, and relieves pressure. It is perhaps the greatest amplifier of human well-being in history, one of the most effective ways to create tangible and lasting benefits for billions of people.

And yet technology is, and must always remain, in service to humanity: an enabler, a path to deepening our common bonds and shared understanding, our energy and imagination, our creativity and capacity for everything from invention to forming relationships.

In the field of AI, we often get caught up in the technical details. We spend our time talking about parameters and compute. The focus is on training runs, data centers and the latest techniques. This is natural and inevitable when operating on the frontiers of something new, where the details do really matter. But I think it’s important that in doing all of this, getting stuck right into the technical weeds, that we don’t lose sight, not just of what we are building, but why we are building it. 

At Microsoft AI, we are creating an AI companion for everyone.

I truly believe we can create a calmer, more helpful and supportive era of technology, quite unlike anything we’ve seen before. Great technology experiences are about how you feel, not what’s under the hood. It should be about what you experience, not what we are building.

Copilot will be there for you, in your corner, by your side, and always strongly aligned with your interests. It understands the context of your life while safeguarding your privacy, data, and security, remembering the details that are most helpful in any situation. It gives you access to a universe of knowledge, simplifying, and decluttering the daily barrage of information, and offering support and encouragement when you want it. 

Over time it’ll adapt to your mannerisms and develop capabilities built around your preferences and needs. We are not creating a static tool so much as establishing a dynamic, emergent, and evolving interaction. It will provide you with unwavering support to help you show up the way you really want in your everyday life, a new means of facilitating human connections and accomplishments alike.

With your permission, Copilot will ultimately be able to act on your behalf, smoothing life’s complexities and giving you more time to focus on what matters to you. It will be an advocate for you in many of life’s most important moments. It’ll accompany you to that doctor’s appointment, taking notes and following up at the right time. It’ll share the load of planning and preparing for your child’s birthday party. And it’ll be there at the end of the day to help you think through a tricky life decision. 

Some people worry that AI will diminish what makes us unique as humans. My life’s work has been to ensure it does precisely the opposite. We choose what we create. This is something we must do together. Our task is to ensure it always enriches people’s lives and strengthens our bonds with others, whilst supporting our uniqueness and endlessly complex humanity.

This is a new era of technology that doesn’t just “solve problems”, it’s there to support you, teach you, help you. In this sense, Copilots really are different to that last wave of the web and mobile. This is the beginning of a fundamental shift in what’s possible for all of us. It’s a long journey that will take years. With our latest updates to Copilot, you are seeing only the first careful steps in this direction.

Patience and care with our deployments are at the very foundation of our approach. My commitment is to be accountable at every stage, to work with you and listen to you. Respect and deep compassion for our users and for society is the core purpose behind everything we do. It comes first. This is a journey we promise to take together. I couldn’t be more excited to embark on it with you.

Mustafa Suleyman