Microsoft resurrects Clippy in Copilot, presumably because it's intrusive, doesn't understand contex

. I know, you're all thinking my nostalgia has gone too far, "it looks like you're trying to write a letter" is circling through your brain, and you're just glad that sentient paperclip is gone for good. Well hold those [[link]] thoughts, because Clippy is back. In the most depressing way possible.

Microsoft has just released the Fall update for Copilot, the suite of AI tools that Redmond is determined to force-feed us all, and part of this is a whole lot of hot air about the human-AI relationship. Copilot is becoming "more personal and more adaptable to your needs and style, while holding true to our brand values."

, here are those Microsoft brand values in full:

• Put Windows everywhere
• Sell stuff through Windows
• Sell more stuff through Windows
• ?!?
• Profit!

Part of this latest Copilot push is a new animated character, though that feels a stretch for a blob with eyes, called Mico. If you don't hate this 'lil goober as soon as you set eyes on him, you're wrong, because he's coming to get you. "This optional visual presence listens, reacts, and even changes colors to reflect your interactions, making voice conversations feel more natural," says proud father Microsoft. "Mico shows support through animation and expressions, creating a friendly and engaging experience."

Mico also hides an Easter egg. If you tap or click on Mico enough, and you really do have to hammer it, Mico transforms into a fully animated and reborn Clippy.

Clippy, Microsoft's original digital assistant, born with the humble goal of teaching people how to use Word. Clippy, predecessor of Cortana and Copilot. Clippy, the butt of jokes that hung around long enough to become almost beloved. Clippy who, whatever we may have thought at the time, was a million billion times less annoying than every AI assistant there is.

There's certainly a layer of irony here. The things that Clippy used to be criticised for—being overbearing, popping up when you didn't need him, completely misunderstanding what you were trying to do—are pretty much exactly how I feel about all these AI assistants getting up in my grill.

I think this might be why so many of us have nostalgia for Clippy. It's not that he was great, or misunderstood, or that he wasn't annoying. He was annoying. But at the same time Clippy was so limited in functionality that he now seems emblematic of a simpler time [[link]] in computing, the grand old days when games came in stupid oversized boxes and printers just used any old ink.

So when Satya Nadella tweets "Clippy is back!" alongside a video of the resurrection, it leaves me feeling a little empty inside. Because Clippy isn't back. This is Mico in a paperclip suit, using our dead friend's googly eyes to try and worm into your affections.

Or maybe it's just a neat Easter egg and I should be nicer about Microsoft. Could be either. But Clippy is an icon of another era for a reason, and it's not because his burbling ever really helped. As Kerry Brunskill wrote a few years back, after :

"It didn't take long before Clippy either completely misunderstood my text or was out of ideas entirely, [[link]] but in the cold light of modernity I honestly appreciated bumping up against the edges of his database instead of being immediately funnelled towards similar 'services' in a company's 'digital ecosystem'.

"He was never eager to push me towards an online 'community' for advice, he never tried to nudge me into clicking on an 'online training content' icon, he never made me stare at a help page that gave over a good chunk of my screen to a stock image of someone smiling at a laptop placed next to an artistically arranged pile of books. Clippy never asked me to pay up to unlock better advice."

That is a beautiful paragraph. And at the time it was written every word was true. But as of today, Clippy's back… and I'm not sure it's in a good way.