Microsoft announced a dedicated Copilot key for Windows recently. Yusuf Mehdi himself announced the “year of AI” and the introduction of the Copilot key for Windows 11 PCs. Microsoft and several OEMs will ship upcoming devices with the key on the keyboard.
Information about the key is scarce at the moment. While Microsoft did publish a blog post on its Windows Experience blog about the key, it revealed little about its functionality.
Mehdi revealed on Twitter that the key would “enable one-click access to Copilot” and Microsoft’s rather lengthy post does not provide any additional information on the functionality it provides besides that.
Microsoft does compare it to the Windows-key, which it introduced almost 30 years ago. This key, also controversial at the time, introduced a number of new shortcuts on Windows.
Microsoft’s own Surface devices and devices by OEMs such as Dell will feature the new Copilot key.
The Copilot key: what we know
A short clip of the key that Mehdi posted reveals its location next to the right Alt key and the cursor keys on a keyboard for a mobile device. What Mehdi failed to mention is that it sits in the place of the right Ctrl-key on the keyboard.
Tom Warren posted a screenshot of a Dell keyboard with the key. It too replaced the Ctrl-key on the keyboard. It appears that Menu functionality is still available as well, albeit not directly when pressing the key.
The removal of the right Ctrl-key introduces a problem for users who use it. There does not seem to be a replacement option and it is unclear if users may map Ctrl again to the Copilot key to restore the current functionality.
Functionality-wise, all that Microsoft revealed was that you get access to Copilot when you activate the key.
Obviously, Copilot itself needs to rise to the occasion as well. It is severely lacking at the moment. It takes to long to process input and anything that you write is submitted over the Internet to a Microsoft server.
Is there more to it?
If the entire functionality of the key is to launch the Windows Copilot interface, then it is quite the redundant feature. The existing shortcut Windows-C opens the Copilot interface already. Users may also click on the Copilot icon to launch it.
What happens to the key when users deactivate Copilot? It is a dead key then? Will Windows 11 map it to Ctrl automatically? Or will it reactivate Copilot even?
It is certainly possible that the key adds just the launch option, which would demonstrate Microsoft’s dedication to AI. It may be great for the stock price and initial usage of Copilot, but it would be lacking functionality-wise.
If that is indeed all there is to the dedicated key, it is a missed opportunity. If Microsoft uses it as another key for shortcuts, it might interest more users.
From launching dedicated AI tools, such as image generation, to creating summaries of open documents or webpages with a simple shortcut.
If Microsoft wants to please everyone, it would even introduce a setting to remap the key to Ctrl.
Closing Words
The coming days and weeks will provide us with additional information about the key and its uses. While many OEM keyboards will include the key, it is uncertain if the majority of standalone keyboards will support it.
Now You: what is your take on the key?