Microsoft has been hinting towards building AI features into Windows 11 for quite some time now. And finally, the culmination of those signs is here. And it’s better than we could have imagined.
dub “Windows Copilot,” It is an AI-powered virtual assistant integrated into Windows 11. The move makes Windows 11 the first PC platform to offer centralized AI assistance. It very well could be a Cortana you won’t hate. Let’s dive in
what is windows copilot
Like Bing Chat, Windows Copilot is powered by AI technology from OpenAI, specifically GPT-4. However, Windows Copilot will integrate AI deeper into the operating system rather than the superficial integration Bing Chat brought with its taskbar entry point.
The main focus of Copilot is to help users increase productivity and streamline workflows by leveraging AI capabilities in their daily tasks and even their PC usage.
Windows Copilot will be available in a sidebar on the right side of your screen, just like the Bing Chat sidebar in Microsoft Edge or Office 365 apps, or GitHub Copilot in GitHub.
You can access Copilot from its dedicated button on the taskbar, apart from the search bar. And once you have it open, the sidebar will remain the same across all your apps, windows, and programs. So, wherever you are, you can take advantage of its capabilities.
Windows Copilot will begin to be available in preview in June 2023.
How does Windows Copilot work?
Windows Copilot uses large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 and natural language processing to work. CoPilot will accept natural language prompts from users such as Bing Chat and ChatGPT and provide replies in the same language. It brings the most universal interface – natural language – to the front and center of how you use your PC, the most significant change in terms of interface since the advent of the GUI (Graphical User Interface).
What can Windows Copilot do?
Windows Copilot can help you with a variety of tasks. While you can ask it any complex question, just like with Bing Chat, it’s capable of much more.
This can especially reduce the amount of time you spend on mundane, repetitive tasks. It can help automate various tasks, such as copying and pasting text or media for you, organizing your apps with Snap Assist, using the Snipping Tool to take screenshots, and personalizing your desktop. Etcetera. This will work with Apps and Documents in Windows 11. And all you have to do is ask it to do the work for you in natural language.
Some examples of its capabilities, as demonstrated by Microsoft, include:
take action on your pc
Windows Copilot can perform actions such as adjusting settings on your PC. Depending on how you tell it to adjust the settings, it will recommend actions after your consent and even take them on your behalf.
For example:
When asked for recommendations on how to adjust the system to do more work, Copilot came up with options like using the focus timer and dark mode for better focus and fewer distractions.
Not only this, it then offered to take care of these things for the user and automatically started the focus timer and changed the theme to dark mode.
It also reorganizes the user’s desktop by snapping open apps using one of the Snap layouts!
work with documents
CoPilot works directly with your documents, so you can drag and drop them into the sidebar and ask for summaries, clarifications, and rewrites; It will deliver them in a jiffy.
You can also copy/paste content directly into Pilot, but the fact is you can work with documents directly!
You can also get meeting summaries from Copilot.
work with apps
It also works with all the apps on your PC. For example, you can ask for music recommendations to listen to while you work. Not only can it recommend some playlists that meet your needs from apps like Spotify, but it can also play your selected playlists from within the app.
plug-in
Co-Pilot will also work with plugins – first-party and third-party – to enrich the user experience. Windows Copilot will use the same plugins that are being built for ChatGPT and Bing Chat. In fact, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Dynamic 365 Copilot will also use the same plugins. This move ensures that more plugins can be used in these services without the need to make them compatible separately.
Plugins allow developers to integrate their apps and services with AI models; For end-users, this means AI can access a lot more apps and services for them. The integration of plugins enables personalized answers, relevant suggestions and faster actions that Windows Copilot can take, reinforcing its role as an ever-present assistant.
Microsoft is already working with companies such as Atlassian, Adobe, ServiceNow, Thomson Reuters, Moveworks, and Mural to name a few whose plugins will be available right now in Microsoft 365 for customers in the Microsoft 365 Copilot early access program. In addition to these, Microsoft also plans to bring thousands of additional line-of-business and third-party plugins to its Copilot ecosystem in the coming months.
This is because these plugins will also work with Windows Copilot when it arrives.
An example from Microsoft showed that when a user asked how they could create a logo for their business, Copilot explained how they could achieve this using app recommendation (Adobe Express) and the recommended apps. Offered to open the template for the logo.
Once the user has created the logo, the logo is pasted into CoPilot and sent directly to a group chat in Microsoft Teams upon the user’s request.
Given that Adobe is one of the early players to adopt plugins in Microsoft’s co-pilot programs, one can see this as a look at what users can accomplish with plugins.
With the power of Windows Copilot at your fingertips, users should be able to spend more time doing the things that matter to them as AI takes care of the rest of the mundane. Windows Copilot is only a prelude to the rapid pervading of AI in every aspect of our lives in the coming future.
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