At a special 50th anniversary event on Friday, Microsoft executives reflected on the companys storied past and on how its now reinventing itself for an AI-focused future.With previous CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer in attendance, current CEO Satya Nadella boasted that the company is leading this new wave of AI innovation, and more importantly, democratizing just like we did it with the PC.Details about the companys plans were laid out by Microsoft Executive Vice President Mustafa Suleyman, who noted that the ability to customize Windows to every persons specific needs is coming. Years ago, Bill laid out a bold ambition, which at the time probably felt like a pretty crazy dream to put a PC on every desk and in every home.Today, were creating a Copilot for everyone, Suleyman said at the event,which was webcast.Suleyman talked about how the company is transforming its generative AI (genAI)-based Copilot into a personal assistant. Microsoft is replicating key sensory features from humans into the software.Today, were taking the very first steps towards rich memory and personalization, the very foundations of an AI companion, Suleyman said.Copilot is gradually adding a Memory feature that can personalize the tool to remember human preferences, dates, events and more.Suleyman pointed out how the AI agent over time will be able to remember birthdays, and provide reminders on tasks. It will also provide advice on how users go through each step in training sessions on specific topics and even memorize individual traits, such as whether a person greets others formally or informally.The memory feature works with others such as Actions, which can complete tasks in the background.Microsoft is also developing avatars for Copilot that make interacting with it more fun. Suleyman showed off avatars as animated characters, and in jest showcased the dreaded Clippy of old Microsoft Office fame as an avatar.The companys main announcements included Copilot Vision, a mobile app that can help users interact with the real-world. The app uses the phones camera to capture images and in real-time provide context of the surroundings.With our new mobile app, Copilot can actually see what you see and talk to you about it in real time, Suleyman said.The second piece to Copilot Vision is a Windows app, which can take a snapshot of a users PC screen and help explain what is being displayed. The app works across applications, browser tabs or files.It will read the screen and interact with the content. Youll be able to use Copilot to search, change settings, organize files and collaborate on projects without switching between files or apps,the company said in a blog post.With my permission it can see my screen like a second set of eyes, Suleyman said at the event said. Its my sounding board. And most importantly, it can respond in the context of what Im seeing on my screen.Suleyman made no reference to Windows Recall, the controversial Copilot feature that uses snapshots to log the history of activity on a PC. Recall was unveiled last year and quickly ran into astorm of controversy related to privacy concerns.Microsoft has also started rolling out Copilot Search, with AI integrated into a conventional Bing search to provide better search results. The search results will be personalized and dynamically generated on the screen.With Copilots new search capabilities, you can get many magazine style cards made just for you, on any topic that you care about, with text, images, videos, and maps built right in, Suleyman said.Microsoft also unveiled Podcasts, an AI feature that can instantly generate podcasts with video and audio, and newAI technologies for Azure AI Foundry.For enterprise users, Microsoftrecently rolled out Research and Analyst agentsto boost enterprise search and employee productivity.AI will be the biggest change to the PC since the graphical user interface (GUI), and it may be as important as the first databases for enterprise users, said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.But harnessing its potential is a challenge, with numerous usability, privacy and security challenges. The ability to make AI most useful and efficient for enterprise needs still needs a lot of work. Were in the first innings, Gold said.Microsofts challenge with AI is not just in the OS, but also in apps that support enterprise users, where Microsoft has a large installed base.While Copilot may make the way we interact with our devices through agents that implement and execute tasks for us more personal, its what AI may do to enhance our insights from our increasingly complex enterprise informational environment that could be a game changer, Gold said.Its likely to be a decade-long maturing process before enterprises see the same level of maturity and creativity users have grown to expect in day-to-day go-to apps.Enterprises need to start down the path now, but dont expect to achieve the end state in the short term, Gold said.