Microsoft changes the PC keyboard for the first time in 30 years

New Copilot key begins the era of the ‘AI PC’, Microsoft says

(Microsoft)

Microsoft has made a change to the Windows PC keyboard for the first time in 30 years.

Computers can now include a “Copilot key” – between the alt key and the left arrow key – which will open Microsoft’s artificial intelligence tools.

Windows Copilot is intended to help out with difficult or mundane tasks, such as writing or summarising lengthy emails or making an AI-generated stockimage to include in a presentation. The company calls it copilot because it is intended to assist with those tasks, and leave the user responsible for them.

The new key marks the first change to the PC keyboard since the introduction of the Windows key in 1994. That is used to bring up the start menu, though users often change its purpose or combine it with other keys for extra options.

Almost any keyboard can be used with Windows PCs, and existing keyboards will obviously not get the new key. But Microsoft’s changes to both Windows and its own hardware keyboards have often led to broad and quick changes across the market, as in the case of the Windows key.

Many upcoming computers will integrate the Copilot key, it said, including those that will be announced at the Consumer Electronics Show next week. The keyboard will be available from “late February through Spring, including on upcoming Surface devices”, it said.

Microsoft said that the new change was “another transformative moment in our journey with Windows”. It suggested that the introduction of the new Copilot key marked the beginning of the era of the “AI PC”.

“We believe it will empower people to participate in the AI transformation more easily,” it said in its announcement. “The Copilot key joins the Windows key as a core part of the PC keyboard and when pressed, the new key will invoke the Copilot in Windows experience to make it seamless to engage Copilot in your day to day”

Microsoft pointed to other work, including new software features that rely on machine learning as well as work with silicon companies to ensure that chips are optimised for artificial intelligence work.

Copilot is not yet available everywhere. If a computer cannot access it, then pressing the button will open Windows Search instead.