Tech media outlet Windows Latest published a post yesterday (August 24), uncovering more clues from the BetaWiki Discord channel. It says Microsoft's Project Aion is primarily aimed at enterprise users and is positioned as an AI system without a Start menu.
IT Home reported in July that Microsoft began developing Project Aion in 2024. Internally called CopilotOS, the project is built around Copilot AI and is described as the primary entry point for users to express themselves, entertain themselves, learn, and handle everyday tasks.
Aion is described as “an agentic Copilot operating system that can run on various new AI-specific devices running AOSP, Win3, or even Windows 11.”
At the system level, it is built on the Microsoft Edge browser and the lightweight Web3 Windows codebase. Designed entirely for AI scenarios, it has no traditional Start menu or desktop icons; everything is driven by AI interaction.
The system has no Start menu, desktop icons, or traditional taskbar apps. After users click the Copilot button, they see a greeting beginning with their name, such as “Good afternoon, Nathan,” followed by three cards: “Stay on Top,” “Create something new,” and “News of the day.”
The “My Stuff” area below provides entry points for apps including Edge, Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, Microsoft 365, Figma, and Visual Studio Code.
When users enter text in the “Ask me anything” box, the system provides autocomplete suggestions. For example, entering “techc” prompts a recommendation for TechCrunch; pressing Enter opens the page in a regular Edge tab.
After entering “to do,” Microsoft To Do appears as a floating window through Edge's picture-in-picture mode. When users ask about dining options on Maui, the launcher turns into a chat window and lists restaurant names along with links to travel websites such as Tripadvisor.
If users then ask about their meetings next Monday, the system opens a second independent chat window alongside it. Each conversation becomes a separate app with its own icon and support for minimizing and closing.
The taskbar generates icons based on the conversation content, such as a cocktail glass for the Maui dining conversation and a calendar for the meeting conversation. After a chat is closed, the conversation is saved as a card in “My Stuff,” allowing users to reopen it from its original location.
Spaces is a feature for organizing tasks around goals. A leaked screenshot shows a space named “TURKEY TRIP,” with the description and goal card reading “Planning a trip to Turkey in September.”
The page also offers the Personal theme, the Creative conversation style, and entry points for apps including Edge, WhatsApp, YouTube, Word, Turkish Airlines, Expedia, and Airbnb, along with a “Draft itinerary” action.
The leaked demo shows that Aion can search SharePoint and email. When a user asks, “What has Scott Schenone been working on recently?” Copilot automatically identifies him as a senior design director and summarizes his involvement in the Lanai project and recent work based on internal files.
Entering a slash in the search box triggers a feature Microsoft internally calls Context IQ. It retrieves colleagues and files from Microsoft 365 and inserts them directly into the prompt.
When users ask the system to draft an email, it generates the content in an Outlook-like editing window and offers tone options including Casual, Professional, Funny, and Undead Pirate Captain. Users can send emails without opening Outlook.
