Should Microsoft consider an ambient Copilot device?

I've been thinking about this because I'm a heavy user of both Microsoft 365 Copilot and Amazon Echo devices.

Over the past few years I've become increasingly dissatisfied with Amazon. Services that were included with Prime have changed or moved behind additional charges. I think the Alexa experience has gotten worse with Alexa+, Amazon's shopping experience increasingly feels like it's trying to manipulate me rather than simply help me buy what I want, and integrations with third-party products such as Sonos can be frustrating.

More importantly, my trust in Amazon has declined to the point that I'm increasingly uncomfortable sharing additional personal information with it. That's significant because I'm actually a big Amazon customer and buy a lot through Prime. I'm not looking for reasons to leave Amazon, but I'm reaching the point where I'm looking for alternatives.

That made me wonder whether Microsoft is missing an opportunity.

I don't think Microsoft should simply build an Echo competitor. I'd like to see something more ambitious that I'd call Copilot Ambient.

Imagine being able to say "Copilot" in your home, home office, workplace, conference room, or eventually your car and securely interact with your Copilot and the agents you've authorized.

Microsoft could make a relatively inexpensive reference speaker/device, but I'd rather see this become an open platform that companies like Sonos, Samsung, LG, Lenovo, Dell, HP and others could incorporate into their products.

Microsoft already has many of the pieces: Copilot, Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, Entra ID, Power Automate and an emerging agent ecosystem. It also has extensive experience with identity, permissions and enterprise security.

I'd especially want the platform built around trust: no advertising disguised as answers, no paid placement disguised as recommendations, clear control over personal data and memory, explicit authorization for consequential actions, a record of what agents have done, and strong interoperability with third-party products.

As AI moves from answering questions to actually doing things for us, I think that trust becomes increasingly important.

Amazon built Alexa around Amazon. Apple built Siri around Apple devices. Google built its assistant around Google services.

I'd like to see Microsoft build ambient Copilot around the user.

Does anyone else see a use for something like this, particularly in both the home and workplace?