The keyboard in Windows has remained almost unchanged for 30 years. After a change in the 1990s, things are changing again now. Because Microsoft added a new button that can already be found on new devices.
The keyboard on the PC has changed little to nothing in recent years. Depending on the country there is a different keyboard layout, so in Germany we have umlauts that are not found on US keyboards. But in 2024 there was a major change to the keyboard for the first time, at least when you’re using Windows. Because Apple devices use their own keyboard scheme or certain special keys.
What was the last change? In the early 1990s there was one last major change to the familiar keyboard layout: Microsoft added a special Windows key to the familiar keyboard. That was about 30 years ago now.
What’s new now? In 2024, for the first time, a completely new key was added to the computer keyboard that we use in everyday life: the “AI Copilot” key.
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s executive vice president and consumer marketing chief, declared at the time: “2024 will be the year of the intelligent computer” and called it a major innovation (via euronews.com).
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With the new button, Microsoft wanted to jump on the current AI hype
Why is there a new button now? With the new button, Microsoft wants to focus more on its in-house AI functions and make it more intuitive for its users. A single press of the AI Copilot button calls up Microsoft’s virtual assistant, which is based on the GPT-4 language model.
Microsoft wants to use its close partnership with the ChatGPT manufacturer OpenAI and become more involved in the growing market. Laptop manufacturers in particular, such as ASUS and Dell, have made the start in the last few weeks and months.
Where is the button? To the right of the spacebar, to the right of the ALT key. As a rule, the FN key is located here, which either disappears or is moved. Because the keyboard size and the number of keys do not change, only the keys themselves change.
Many people actively use this button or at least the function behind it. And in the future, the use of AI or AI functions is only likely to grow.
AI is a huge topic in 2024 and many companies are joining in to avoid being left behind
What will it look like in 2024? The biggest criticism and concern is that, in the long term, AI will cause a number of jobs to disappear sooner or later. And it happens again and again that corporations lay off their employees in order to then replace them with a chatbot or other AI systems. Recently, a team complained that they had been fired to work for an AI service.
It is therefore not surprising that many people view such actions with fear and concern, fearing that they will be the next to find themselves on the street without a job. AI is therefore not only viewed with technical enthusiasm, as is the case with Microsoft or Nvidia. Thanks to AI, Nvidia is currently recording billions in sales.
Are there secure jobs? The head of ChatGPT explained in an interview which professions AI cannot replace. In total, he came up with 34 professions that would be safe from artificial intelligence. In addition to bus drivers and hairdressers, there are also some other, lesser-known jobs: The inventor of the AI ChatGPT reveals which 34 professions an AI can never replace