It’s funny how AI agents currently lack avatars. ChatGPT exists as an app, so does Claude, and Gemini, and Apple Intelligence. However, voice assistants have ‘bodies’ in the form of smart speakers, that let you talk to them. Braz de Pina found himself asking a fundamental question – why do AI agents lack bodies? And why do voice assistants have ‘cylindrical’ bodies the way Alexa and HomePod do? And more importantly, what if AI as we know it, existed as hardware?
What would such an AI look like? For de Pina, it would look like the Copilot Home. Designed as a conceptual device to ‘house’ Microsoft’s AI Copilot, this cyberpunk-inspired dock lets you interface with the AI in a way that doesn’t feel ‘virtual’. The Copilot Home is a physical device that you can talk to, press buttons to maneuver, and treat as your true real-life assistant for all things Microsoft.
Designer: Braz de Pina
de Pina’s Copilot Home is his aspiration of what a ‘physical’ AI device could look like. It’s purely conceptual, he points out, even though he’s a principal designer at Microsoft. In a way, even though the device isn’t real, it’s come from a place that’s as legit as it can get – the mind of a Microsoft designer. The device takes cues from Cyberpunk, Japanese Anime, and a little Dieter Rams. It’s all-metal, featuring a very anodized-aluminum-a-la-Apple aesthetic, but has just enough visual drama to give it that punkish character that makes the device look futuristic and mildly otherworldly.
Broadly, the device has 2 control buttons, a black and white display, a large volume ring, and a speaker in the center of the ring. The buttons feature the Chinese character for ‘home’, and the Copilot logo, probably indicating at the two controls that let you switch in and out of AI mode. You can talk to the AI and ask it pretty much anything that you would ask Microsoft Copilot, from details about your day and your calendar, to asking for new messages, weather analysis, and market reports. Once you’re done, hit the Home button to go back to the dormant mode, with the screen on the left displaying relevant information, notifications, etc.
The volume ring is quirky, but in a way that doesn’t take away functionality. Inspired probably by the rotary dial on phones from back in the day, it features a massive hubless ring that rotates around the speaker grill, allowing you to control the audio level of your assistant. In the center is a fairly large audio unit… but to be honest, I’m not entirely sure if Copilot has any music integration, which would mean the Copilot Home can’t play songs from any streaming service… unless it runs agentic commands on your computer to run services like Spotify or Apple Music.
The only other button in the equation is a power button on top, colored in red to differentiate it from the rest of the Copilot Home’s controls. Unlike your Alexa or HomePod, you can actually switch your Copilot Home off (instead of having to disconnect the power), which feels oddly liberating. The orange accents contrast wonderfully against the silver finish of the device, creating something that really doesn’t look like it could come from ‘polished’ companies like Microsoft. There’s a little bit of Teenage Engineering in the Copilot Home’s punk-ish design. It’s serious, but not too serious. Powerful, but still grounded in a sense of ‘fun’ that makes you less scared of how powerful Microsoft’s AI is. Sadly, this one’s just for wishful thinking. Microsoft’s probably not working on a Copilot hardware device. After all, they own a controlling stake in OpenAI, which is making its own ChatGPT wearable with Jony Ive’s design studio… so Microsoft doesn’t technically need another AI device. Although it would be fun if this one wasn’t just a figment of Braz de Pina’s imagination. Funnily enough, it isn’t de Pina’s only Copilot-related idea. Earlier this year, he unveiled a rather adorable, whimsical looking Copilot Dock concept, which we loved too!
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