Mico didn't last a yearGroup Chat, Podcasts and Deep Research die on August 18 tooMicrosoft is pulling Mico, the animated yellow blob that has fronted Copilot Voice since last October, out of the assistant's voice mode.
The character isn't being deleted outright—it's being shifted to Learn Live, Microsoft's voice-based study mode, where it will work as an animated tutor.
Copilot Voice itself stays exactly where it is.
Microsoft is merging its consumer Copilot app with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, and account updates begin rolling out from August 18, 2026.
Group Chat, Podcasts, Copilot Labs and consumer Deep Research all retire that day.
Microsoft killed Clippy once. It's just done it again with Mico
Clippy survived a decade. Mico didn't last a year
Group Chat, Podcasts and Deep Research die on August 18 too
Microsoft is pulling Mico, the animated yellow blob that has fronted Copilot Voice since last October, out of the assistant's voice mode. The character isn't being deleted outright—it's being shifted to Learn Live, Microsoft's voice-based study mode, where it will work as an animated tutor. Copilot Voice itself stays exactly where it is. You'll still be able to talk to the chatbot and get spoken replies. You just won't have a blob pulling faces at you while you do it.The change was spotted on a Microsoft support page and reported by The Verge, and it lands as part of a much bigger housekeeping exercise. Microsoft is merging its consumer Copilot app with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, and account updates begin rolling out from August 18, 2026. Mico goes in waves rather than on a single date, so your account may lose it before or after someone else's.Mico arrived in the Copilot Fall Release in October 2025, with Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman positioning it as a way to give the assistant an identity. It changed colour, reacted in real time, and was meant to make voice conversations feel less like talking to a spreadsheet. Microsoft's support page now says the character taught it about warmth, expressiveness, and how people want to talk with AI, and that Learn is where it has the most room to grow.That puts Mico in familiar company. Clippy shipped with Office 97 and was gone by Office 2007. Cortana ran from 2014 until its standalone app was retired in 2023. Rover and Bob went the same way in the nineties.Mico isn't the only casualty. Group Chat, Podcasts, Copilot Labs and consumer Deep Research all retire that day. Paid professional users get a tool called Researcher in place of Deep Research.There's a small amount of homework here. Existing Group Chats migrate as individual conversations, but messages, images and files uploaded by other participants won't come across, so download anything you want to keep first. Podcasts can be saved individually before the cutoff. And if you spent time customising your Mico's colours and looks, Microsoft's advice: take a screenshot, because those settings don't travel to Learn Live.
