Copilot might get a face.
According to TestingCatalog, Microsoft is quietly giving Copilot a customizable face (quite literally) through a new feature called Live Portraits, alongside updates to Copilot Pages and memories.
Though Live Portraits isn’t publicly available yet, TestingCatalog notes that Microsoft is working on a dedicated interface for the feature where users can pick from different visual styles of male and female avatars. The site also mentions that when they attempted to select a portrait, they were redirected to a placeholder voice conversation view.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has dabbled with Characters for Copilot. A couple of months ago, TestingCatalog spotted Microsoft working on two characters, Mika and Hiraki, and four background images. From what they described, it was essentially Microsoft’s attempt to “gamify” its assistant. They explained that characters would emerge from the background to the front once a chat began, and would start to wave to the user.
The end goal of both features seems to be the same — to make Copilot more personalized and interactive. However, with Live Portraits, Microsoft aims for a more polished, human-like presence rather than playful, animated characters.
With Live Portraits, Microsoft appears to be aiming for a more polished, human-like presence rather than playful, animated characters.
While there’s no telling if Microsoft will ever launch this or Copilot Characters widely as stand-alone features, the company might merge both. If that’s how it pans out, it could offer a variety of assistants, ranging from lighthearted characters like Mika and Hiraki to more professional avatars.
TestingCatalog also spotted internal references to “3D generations,” suggesting that the tech giant might want to extend this feature beyond simple avatars and create more dynamic, animated 3D characters instead.
What’s next
Whether Microsoft Copilot has quickly become your go-to AI assistant or you simply can’t stand it and are trying to uninstall it altogether, Microsoft’s made up its mind and is doubling down on its assistant ambitions. The Live Portraits feature seems to prove that commitment.
TestingCatalog notes that these features would likely first appear in the Copilot web interface. As with most experimental features, there’s no telling when Microsoft will release Live Portraits — if at all.
Given that the characters were first spotted in January, and they’re yet to roll out widely, it could take a while before either feature sees an official launch, if they do at all.
However, since it aligns perfectly with Microsoft’s vision of turning Copilot into more than just a chat window, and considering the company’s overall push in AI, it’s unlikely the tech giant will shelve the idea altogether.
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