微软正在测试一项名为“Copilot Appearance”的新实验，旨在为ChatGPT驱动的AI助手Copilot提供一个视觉化的互动方式。该实验允许Copilot拥有一个类似棉花糖或表情符号的拟人化面孔，能够通过实时表情、语音和对话记忆进行回应。此举被视为AI聊天机器人体验的一大进步，有望将AI化身技术普及化。尽管拟人化AI存在潜在风险，但微软通过其可爱的设计，可能正在推动这一趋势的普及。目前，该功能仅在美国、英国和加拿大部分用户可用，通过“Voice settings”菜单进行激活。

✨ 微软Copilot实验新动向：Copilot Appearance实验赋予AI助手一个可视化的、拟人化的交互界面，能够通过实时表情、语音和对话记忆进行回应，标志着AI聊天机器人体验的革新。

🌈 灵感源于Clippy：虽然不是Clippy的复刻，但新助手的出现让人联想到早期微软Office的虚拟助手Clippy，预示着AI助手正朝着更具人情味和互动性的方向发展。

🚀 推动AI化身技术普及：Copilot Appearance旨在将AI化身技术带给大众，打破当前AI聊天机器人以文本和语音为主的局限，为用户提供更丰富的交互体验，尽管拟人化AI存在潜在风险，但其可爱设计可能有助于主流化这一趋势。

💡 激活方式简便：用户只需进入语音模式，在“Voice settings”菜单中找到并开启“Copilot Appearance”即可体验，但目前该功能仅向美国、英国和加拿大部分Copilot Labs用户开放。

As an elder millennial, I remember Clippy well. I don't remember Microsoft Office's animated paperclip fondly, but I'll never forget him. The rarely helpful assistant would pop up to make suggestions as you worked in Microsoft Word, often slowing down the experience significantly. (At least, that's how I remember Clippy.)

Now, Microsoft is testing another virtual assistant. While it's not quite Clippy 2.0, the new Copilot Appearance experiment from Copilot Labs is definitely giving major Clippy vibes.

Per Microsoft, "Copilot Appearance is an experiment that gives you a new, visual way to chat with Copilot, powered by real-time expressions, voice, and conversational memory."

Copilot, Microsoft's ChatGPT-powered AI assistant, is available with many Windows laptops and products. Now, Appearance lets you give Copilot a face — a marshmallow, emoji-like face.

Copilot users who participate in the test can talk to the rainbow-hued face and watch it respond in real-time. While AI chatbots have become hugely popular since the explosive debut of ChatGPT, the chatbot experience is largely text and voice-based. You can find AI avatars, such as xAI's new anime avatars, that react to your prompts, this technology has so far lagged behind traditional chatbots.

Copilot Appearance could be a big step toward bringing this technology to the masses. However, as anyone who has seen the movie Her knows all too well, anthropomorphizing AI chatbots comes with some risks. But by making its Copilot Appearance avatar undeniably adorable, Microsoft may help mainstream the anthropomorphization trend, for better or worse.

Crucially, the Copilot's experimental new face doesn't have a name, though that might not stop people from settling on a nickname. Clippy's official name was actually Clippit, but no one remembers Clippit.

How to activate Copilot Appearance

For now, Copilot Appearance is only available to certain users in the United States, the UK, and Canada. It's part of the Copilot Labs program.

According to Microsoft, it's easy to access Copilot Appearance:

Enter Voice mode

Go to the "Voice settings" menu

Toggle on Copilot Appearance.

If you don't find a toggle for Copilot Appearance, then you don't have access to this new feature.