If you were an avid Windows fan around the Vista era, you'll know of Cortana, the doomed digital assistant that claimed to make your life easier by listening to voice commands. Well, people didn't really gel with her as much as Microsoft wanted, and the company eventually canned the project. Now, it seems that Cortana has come back in a new form, and if you're wondering "Is it Copilot?" then you're absolutely right.

Cortana gets a second life via a new Copilot update

As announced on the Windows Insider blog, the company has a new update for those on the Copilot preview branch. It's a pretty small update, but something about it feels off:

Press to talk: Allows you to interact with Copilot using your voice by using a hotkey, providing instant responses while staying in your current workflow and continuing tasks without interruption. To start a voice conversation with Copilot, hold the Alt + Spacebar for 2 seconds on your PC. To end your conversation, press the Esc key. If there is no speaking for several seconds Copilot will automatically end the conversation. When the conversation is over the microphone on the screen will disappear.

Does this sound eerily familiar to you? You're not alone; this is Cortana by another name, from the voice commands to the dedicated hotkey to the little on-screen microphone. It seems her new form doesn't have the same permissions as she once had, as you can't tweak your system settings using the commands; instead, it opens up the Copilot app and lets you interact with it as you would the web browser client or the desktop app.

The idea of speaking to a digital assistant is by no means new, as we've had voice and keybind-activated bots on our PCs and mobile phones for a while now. Given how little I use them, I'm not sure if this new Copilot update will have the impact that Microsoft wants. I suppose you can ask it to generate some images while you're in the middle of work and come back to see the results once you're finished, but when it comes to prompts, I much prefer to use text so I can think over and craft what I want.

However, if you're not an AI grouch like I am and want to use this feature, check out our guide on how to use Copilot in Windows 11 to get the most out of your digital assistant. Plus, you can see all the new features added to Copilot in Microsoft 365 to boost your productivity.