U+1F1AD: SQUARED FN or MASK WORK SYMBOL?

[Doug Ewell]

I don’t think the main, underlying point is being understood by all parties.

Unicode encodes plain-text characters. Not every symbol is in common use as part of running text, except for the pathological case of a phrase or sentence talking about the symbol itself.

The fact that such a symbol may appear on a computer keyboard does not disprove this.

--
Doug Ewell, CC, ALB | Lakewood, CO, US | ewellic.org


From: Unicode <unicode-bounces at corp.unicode.org> On Behalf Of Marius Spix via Unicode
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2025 1:51
To: beckiergb at gmail.com; t.b.y.taoboyu at foxmail.com
Cc: unicode at corp.unicode.org; anatole.bouvierdyvoire at afnor.org
Subject: Aw: Re: U+1F1AD: SQUARED FN or MASK WORK SYMBOL?

I also noted, that newer keyboards include an AI assistant key, which replaces the menu key, but sends another keycode sequence than the menu key, including the F23 key, which is absent from many keyboards.

I am aware, than Unicode won't encode characters protected by trademark laws like the Apple or Windows logo. The closest character which could be to represent an AI assistant is U+1F481 (INFORMATION DESK OFFICER) which is unified with the "person tipping hand" emoji. As I expect other OS vendors to include their own AI assistant keys, I wonder if a standardized AI assistant keyboard symbol, which does not depict the Microsoft Copilot symbol would be useful.
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