A leaked video has revealed a striking Microsoft experiment. The company explored building a dedicated Copilot operating system. The project was codenamed Aion and built around agentic AI.
The three-minute video surfaced first on a Discord server. It shows what looks like real but early working code. Reports indicate the footage is genuine, though recorded back in 2024. It walks through a new desktop interface centered on Copilot.
Aion places Copilot at the very heart of the experience. The narrator calls it a web-based agent OS with Copilot built into the shell. A multi-modal input box becomes the main way to work. Users go there to find files, open apps, and browse the web.
The design keeps some familiar Windows elements too. It features a taskbar along the bottom and a Start menu-like interface. A new feature called Spaces groups apps and sites into buckets. Users can then reopen multiple things with a single click. Aion is built entirely around web technology, however. It does not run native Windows apps directly. It runs web apps and websites instead. For desktop apps, it leans on Windows 365 to stream a Cloud PC.
The OS reportedly runs on a stripped-back codebase called Win3. That version drops support for legacy Win32 apps. In exchange, it promises faster updates, longer battery life, and better security. A separate version can run on top of Windows 11.
Microsoft’s intentions remain unclear, though. Sources say the video is old and possibly just an experiment. It may have been a hackathon project exploring desktop ideas. Microsoft declined to comment on the leak. Even so, its ideas may already shape Windows. Microsoft recently announced Project Solara, a similar agentic OS effort. Aion may well have evolved into that project.
