---
title: "Madman Brings Clippy Back as an AI"
description: "Undead Clipit Clippy's back, y'all — and it's more powerful than ever. The former Microsoft Windows mascot has had a rough go. First introduced back in 1997, the anthropomorphic paperclip was first retired from its hate-it-or-love-it \"office assistant\" role back in 2001. Then, years later in 2019, Microsoft momentarily resurrected Clippy — only to murder […]"
date: "2023-06-29"
modified: "2023-06-29"
authors:
  - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/microsoft-clippy-back-ai"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "ai"
  - "large language models"
  - "microsoft"
  - "the digest"
---

# Madman Brings Clippy Back as an AI

![Clippy's back! And this time, with a new daddy and a GPT-3.5 integration, it's more powerful than ever — unless Microsoft shuts it down.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/microsoft-clippy-back-ai.png>)
*\<em\>Image: FireCube\</em\>*

## Undead Clippit

Clippy's back, y'all — and more powerful than ever.

The former Microsoft Office mascot — technically named Clippit, though pretty much everyone calls him Clippy — has had a rough go of it. First introduced back in 1997, the anthropomorphic paperclip was first retired from its hate-it-or-love-it "office assistant" role [back in 2001](<https://news.microsoft.com/2001/04/11/farewell-clippy-whats-happening-to-the-infamous-office-assistant-in-office-xp/>). Then, years later in 2019, Microsoft momentarily resurrected Clippy — only to murder him [once again on that very same day](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/22/18276923/microsoft-clippy-microsoft-teams-stickers-removal>).

Now, [per *PC World*](<https://www.pcworld.com/article/1972377/clippy-is-back-in-a-windows-ai-app.html>), Clippy has once again been resurrected, albeit not by Microsoft. A developer called FireCube has brought the Groucho-eyebrowed paperclip back, and this time it's powered by OpenAI's red-hot GPT-3.5 large language model (LLM).

"Clippy by FireCube (Not by Microsoft) brings back the infamous Clippit into your desktop powered by the OpenAI GPT 3.5 model," [reads the product description](<https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/clippy-by-firecube/9NWK37S35V5T>) for the newly-undead mascot. "Clippy can be pinned to the screen for quick access to chat or just be left for nostalgia."

There you have it, folks. It's not just Clippy. It's [SuperClippy](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/microsoft-copilot-ai-office>), powered by the same technology that its original maker-slash-unaliver [paid gazillions of dollars](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-confirms-microsoft-expansion>) for a major stake in. The "brand police" — as a Microsoft insider characterized Clippy's killers [to *The Verge*](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/22/18276923/microsoft-clippy-microsoft-teams-stickers-removal>) back in 2019 — can suck it.

## Clipheads Rise

Well, maybe. There's always the chance that this ClippyGPT could grow so popular — and thus so powerful, at least in its financial prospects — that Microsoft could be moved to kill the digital assistant for the third time on copyright grounds. Although, if that happens, Microsoft might face another wave of Cliphead furor, just as the firm did the last time that Clippy was shut down, as the *Verge* reported at the time.

Of course, the copyright thing would be somewhat understandable, if a wildly dark new turn in Clippy's character arc. Seriously, right now we're at: inception, murder, resurrection *and same-day* murder, and now super-charged resurrection featuring an AI integration. That's starting to sound like the plot of "The Mummy," and with that in mind, perhaps we should refrain from killing off the newly AI-embedded version of the iconic office helper. Call it [AI threat mitigation](<https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/technology/sam-altman-ai-regulations.html>), if you will.

Anyway. We don't really think that AI Clippy would or could seek revenge on its maker, should it be sent back to the digital underworld once more. All we're saying is that maybe, just maybe, there's a different [Paperclip Problem](<https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/ai-and-paperclip-problem>) that we should all be worried about.

**More on Clippy's former employer:** [*OpenAI Warned Microsoft That Its AI Is Absolutely Terrible at Telling the Truth*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-warned-microsoft>)

## Author
At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride."

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/mharrisondupre.bsky.social>)