Microsoft is adding another dedicated button to its keyboards — and of course, it's for AI

Microsoft’sobsession with artificial intelligencecontinues with the recent launch of mobile app versions of its Copilot AI. The company also sprinkled AI into every nook and cranny of its software, andboldly crownedMicrosoft Edge as the “AI browser” at the start of 2024. In a clear sign of its ongoing AI commitment, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 keyboards will feature a dedicated Copilot key.

In a demo video, the company showcased the design of what it’s hyping up as the next big thing for our PC keyboards. This fresh key’s main job is to summon the Copilot generative AI assistant onWindows 11, assuming Copilot is installed and you’re logged into a Microsoft account. Sure, you could previously pull off this feat with the Windows button and C combo, but with the dedicated key, you’re able to skip that whole extra key press.

The Copilot key is the most significant shakeup to the PC keyboard since Microsoft dropped the Windows logo key nearly 30 years ago, according to ablog postwritten by Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft. The shiny new key is elbowing its way into the spot where the Menu key used to sit, right there on the right side of the space bar, rubbing shoulders with the right-hand Alt key and the Left Arrow navigation key on laptops. As for the full-sizedesktop keyboards, it’s eyeing the turf of the second Windows key. While it’s not etched in stone, chances are that’s where the Copilot key will set up shop.

Copilot made its debut on Windows 11 in September. You can summon it with a click on its taskbar icon, but Microsoft’s love affair with generative AI runs so deep that it’s giving Copilot its own fancy hardware key. Now, Microsoft’s manufacturing partners are gearing up to sprinkle this dedicated key across their upcoming products.

The first wave of hardware flaunting the Copilot key is set to strut its stuff at CES next week. Microsoft and its partners plan to release Windows 11 PCs featuring this dedicated Copilot key starting later this month and rolling through spring. The Redmond-based giant is even hinting at adding it to upcoming Surface devices.

However, thanks to the slow rollout of Copilot in different corners of the world, the dedicated key will fire up Windows Search in territories where the AI hasn’t arrived yet. Unlike the trusty old Windows key, though, the Copilot key is just a launch pad at the outset. Whether Microsoft has plans to let it play nice with other keys down the road remains a mystery for now.