Microsoft's first virtual assistant, before Siri, Alexa and Bixby, is making a comeback - almost two decades after it was removed from Office.
Clippy, the friendly anthropomorphic clipper, was seen as an Easter egg in Microsoft's recent announcement of Mico, a new AI assistant.
Mice – The Mico – whose name is a reference to Microsoft Copilot – looks like a small ball with a smiley face and bears little resemblance to the beloved Clippy. But early adopters discovered that if you tap on the Mico a few times, it transforms into Clippy.
“Clippy has returned as an Easter egg in the new character Mico. If you tap on Mico a few times, Clippy appears,” said Tom Warren, Senior Editor at The Verge.
Clippy is back as an Easter egg in Copilot's new Mico character. If you tap on Mico multiple times then Clippy appears pic.twitter.com/lXZKWZMtht
- Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 23, 2025
Nostalgic fans have been enthusiastic, saying that Clippy "will never be replaced."
A little history about Clippy
Microsoft introduced Clippy in 1997 as a virtual assistant for Office users. The anthropomorphic clip would appear on the screen to help users with various tasks and provide advice.
However, after several years of becoming annoying to many users, Clippy was removed completely in 2007. But its legacy has survived in memes, parodies, and stickers.
Since then, Microsoft has experimented with several virtual assistants, including Cortana and Tay, the latter of which was removed in 2016 for racist and disturbing comments.
Today, Mico aims to make Copilot "more personal and adaptive," reacting with animations and colors according to user interactions, but always hiding a nostalgic surprise: the famous Clippy.
"Gone, but not forgotten," writes one user on X (formerly Twitter), reflecting the love fans still have for the friendly clip.
Clippy has made a few brief comebacks before: in 2019 in a sticker pack for Microsoft Teams and later on the official Github page for Office developers. In 2021, the character was used as a replacement for the simple paperclip icon in emoji. /GazetaExpress/
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