According to Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s head of AI, Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants with advanced long-term memory capabilities are likely to be available within a year.
These assistants will be able to recall past conversations, projects, and issues, which will encourage users to spend more time with them and share more personal history, he said in an exclusive interview.
“I believe we are entering a fundamentally new era, where persistent, highly capable co-pilot companions will be ever-present in everyday life,” Suleyman stated.
However, critics have raised significant concerns about this level of integration, particularly around data security, privacy, and the potential for AI tools to provide incorrect advice, misinformation, or display inherent biases toward the individuals they assist.
Supporters of AI argue that in order for these tools to be truly effective, they need to be deeply embedded into users’ lives.
They assert that AI can only be genuinely helpful if it understands the history and context of the tasks it’s asked to complete.
For example, an AI diary manager can only organize your schedule if it has access to and can retain information about your activities.
Suleyman noted that societal expectations around privacy have evolved. He pointed to devices like TVs, laptops, phones, in-car cameras, and earbuds, which are now commonly recording continuously in everyday settings.
He also cited the iPhone’s Live View feature, which simultaneously records video and audio when taking a photo, as an example of how attitudes toward privacy are shifting.
“Most people love that feature,” he explained. “Some turn it off, but it represents a significant shift in what people expect from a photo.”
Suleyman further emphasized that the decision to embrace this kind of technology depends largely on whether people feel in control of it and trust the provider, as well as how much they benefit from it.
Game Changer or Bubble?
Microsoft has made significant investments in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, positioning itself as a leader in the rapidly advancing AI space.
However, some research suggests that AI tools are not being used consistently by the general public.
Suleyman acknowledged that AI tools might never achieve the same level of global adoption as smartphones.
“Maybe this is different from the smartphone,” he said. “Nearly 90% of the planet has a smartphone. Perhaps AI tools will be different. Maybe 50% will reject them.”
Despite this, he noted that AI has been the fastest-growing and most rapidly adopted technology in history, despite the risks involved.
He also dismissed the idea, proposed by some industry experts like Jim Covello, head of stock research at Goldman Sachs, that AI could turn out to be a temporary trend or “bubble” like some previous tech innovations.
Suleyman shared an anecdote about a woman who credited the AI chatbot Pi, which he developed, with helping her set up her business through its guidance and motivation.
“We are clearly delivering personalized, interactive knowledge at your fingertips with zero marginal cost,” he said. “The idea that this could be a bubble is utterly beyond me.”
Microsoft’s Latest AI Updates
Microsoft has revealed new features for its AI assistant line, CoPilot, including voice functionality, a daily news digest, and a slower chatbot called Think Deeper for handling more complex or in-depth queries.
One of the standout features is CoPilot Vision, which integrates into the Edge web browser. When activated, Vision can observe web pages and assist users with their online activities.
The company emphasized that Vision will not store or record data, must be manually activated, and will close after each browser session.
Microsoft has also chosen to limit the websites the tool will work with, though a release date for Vision has yet to be announced.
This summer, Microsoft paused the rollout of an AI tool called Recall, which took screenshots every few seconds to help users locate things they had previously viewed or worked on.
The pause followed a backlash from privacy advocates and inquiries from the UK’s data watchdog. Microsoft plans to re-launch Recall in November with added security measures.
