Microsoft won’t be backing down from this AI business anytime soon, despite user pressure to get rid of Copilot on Windows 11. At Build, the Redmond company’s annual event, the company introduced a new AI wearable: a badge. Presented as a cord you’d see in an office, it’s part of Project Solara, which intends to be the next step in AI agent integration. AI agents are like specific, siled elements of the large language model that powers the AI, intended to “focus” it on a task.
Microsoft also showed off concept devices similar to the Amazon Echo Show line of smart displays, currently called the “Desk Concept.” Microsoft wants Solara to be more than a badge, but an overhaul of the entirety of IT when it comes to AI. However, the focus has been on the badge, or “Badge Concept”. Rather than running the AI model on the device, it connects to the cloud (“chip to cloud”) and runs CoPilot that way.
The device itself is still a concept, but it’s touted as having a camera, microphone, sensors, touchscreen, and internet access. Rather than building it on Windows or its own mobile platforms, Microsoft is instead tailoring a version of Android to the form factor. This won’t be the full version, but it’s dubbed the “Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform” because it repackages the source version of Google’s software.
Project Solara aims to inject AI agents into your work
So what is the badge actually used for? Microsoft considers this something that is part of your current workflow. In Microsoft’s press release, it says it’s about taking it “to where people need it most.” The idea is that you have a problem with a task at work, ask the AI agent to take a look via camera, and then help you with the rest. Workplaces considered for use are healthcare or “frontline” work.
The company also promises that the user interface will tie into this overall goal of designing new devices fit for today’s computing age. Rather than building an interface around a standard, it will instead use a “just-in-time user interface”. This will create the interface for the job at hand, rather than a predefined user interface. For example, when scanning documents for scanning, Solara may be asked to change the user interface to one button for taking a photo and another for uploading.
What’s unclear is when the devices will launch. No date is attached and the company has a history of scrapping devices before they can surface. Foldable devices, fitness bands and phones have all been announced, only to be destroyed – even after the press got their hands on them. There is also concern that AI wearable devices have also failed to achieve real success. An example of a tech brand that lost customer trust is Humane, which left its early adopters with a fancy paperweight after being purchased by HP.
