In 2024 or earlier, Microsoft was working on a Copilot-focused operating system codenamed “Aion,” which is web-based and runs on a modified version of Microsoft Edge. That means it is not the usual Windows operating system, and it uses Microsoft Edge, which is based on Chromium.
In a leaked video shared on a private BetaWiki forum and later posted by Microsoft watcher Gareth, you can clearly see that this Copilot OS drops the traditional Start menu in favor of an AI model called “Sydney,” and it’s entirely focused on AI. Sydney was the codename of Bing Chat (original Copilot).
When you boot Windows 11 for the first time, you have the Start menu, desktop, and taskbar icons. In case of Copilot OS codenamed “Project Aion,” there are no desktop icons, but there’s a Windows 11-style wallpaper. The taskbar is minimal, with a single, colorful Copilot-style icon in the center acting as my Start button.
If you remember, Satya Nadella once said that Copilot would eventually become the Start button, and the leaked ‘Project Aion’ appears to be built along those lines.
If you look closely, you will realise that the Copilot OS, which is most likely cancelled or on the back burner after recent Microsoft leadership changes, feels a bit like Windows 11 and ChromeOS.
Depending on what you ask the “Omnibox,” it decides whether to securely route your query to the Enterprise version of Copilot for work data or the Consumer version for general web queries.
Also, if you simply type a forward slash (/) in the search box, the system triggers Context IQ. This instantly taps into your Microsoft 365 data, allowing you to tag specific coworkers or files directly into the prompt. All of that suggests that Project AION “Copilot OS” was optimized more for enterprise use cases.
We do not have a high-quality video, but actions taken in the Start menu “instantly morph” to become their own standalone windows. The interface is really smooth, and the UI is dynamically generated. For example, you can notice that a chat breaks out into its own window, and it doesn’t just use a generic Copilot logo.
In this case, Copilot OS created a custom “AI-generated icon” specifically for that chat window on your taskbar or app drawer.
In the video, the narrator, who sounds like an AI, explains that Project AION breaks down the “traditional app-centric grouping approach.” Instead of grouping all your Word documents together and all your browser tabs together, Aion groups items by your goals.
These task groupings, called Spaces, are powered by an engine called Silverstone.
The narrator explains that because everything runs in Edge, the AI “can crawl the DOM of each site to understand the full context of the content and not just the visible pixels.” This is a massive distinction from features like Windows Recall, which relies on taking visual screenshots.
Windows 365 handoff, and Windows apps (Win32 support)
Because Aion is purely web-based, it cannot run legacy Windows apps (Win32). However, if you are viewing a file on the web that requires a heavy desktop app, Aion detects it. You tap a “handoff” button, and it seamlessly remotes into a Cloud PC with your content already loaded. This is again a use case for enterprises.
Finally, like Copilot, this Copilot OS also has support for interactive plugins. It generates interactive UI elements right inside the chat. When asking to send a summary, an “interactive email control” appears.
It drafts the email based on the context of the workspace, and you can send it without ever opening an actual email client.
Copilot OS “Project AION” is mostly an internal project that will never release
The Copilot OS idea is scary, but also interesting, and I have reasons to believe the feature will most likely never ship.
If you look at the video, it opens TechCrunch, and the articles are from 2024, which seems to suggest Microsoft worked on the project in 2024 or earlier, possibly 2022-24.
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