Clippy rises from the dead in major update to Copilot and its voice interface (www.theregister.com)

Microsoft’s Fall Copilot update introduces Mico, a new animated voice avatar (with eight selectable voices and color palettes) that appears when you invoke Copilot’s microphone on the web — and can be playfully switched to a Clippy skin by rapid-clicking the avatar. The cosmetic refresh sits alongside substantial feature launches: Copilot Groups for multi‑user shared conversations, improved cross‑session memory, Copilot Connectors to link Outlook/OneDrive/Gmail/Google Drive, a study mode called Copilot Learn Live, a Real Talk conversational style, and a Copilot Health initiative (partnering with medical experts for “grounded” medical answers). The rollout is live in the US now and coming to the UK/Canada soon; the new avatar didn’t appear in the Copilot for Windows app for the reviewer at publication. Technically the update makes Copilot more agentic and integrated — it can browse, open tabs, prefill bookings (it autonomously chose travel dates and room type in tests), and pull specifics from connected apps (accurate Gmail metadata was shown). That raises useful productivity gains but also privacy and control concerns: stronger memory and app connectors mean more persistent context and data access, and Copilot’s decision-making (choosing dates/rooms) can feel intrusive when it doesn’t ask clarifying questions. On the safety front, the assistant demonstrated resistance to prompt‑injection tricks and can surface cited web sources for health queries, but users should watch defaults and permissions as the assistant grows more proactive.