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Windows 11’s Copilot: Your AI-Powered Personal Assistant for Seamless Productivity
Microsoft has announced the introduction of a new AI assistant called Copilot for Windows 11. Similar to the Copilot sidebars in Edge, Office apps, and GitHub, this feature will be seamlessly integrated into Windows 11 and accessible from the taskbar across all applications and programs.
Windows Copilot, once opened, remains consistent throughout different apps, programs, and Windows, serving as a personal assistant. According to Panos Panay, Microsoft’s head of Windows and devices, empowers every user to become a power user by facilitating action-taking, customization of settings, and smooth connectivity across favorite apps.
One of the key functionalities of Windows Copilot is its ability to summarize, rewrite, and explain the content being viewed in apps. Its appearance resembles the dialogue box in Bing Chat, allowing users to ask general questions and seek information that would typically be directed to a search engine.
It is worth noting that Windows Copilot does not replace the search bar on the Windows 11 taskbar; instead, it appears as a separate Copilot button alongside it. This arrangement is similar to how Cortana had its dedicated space in Windows 10’s taskbar. Microsoft describes Windows Copilot as a “personal assistant,” reminiscent of how Cortana was introduced as a “personal productivity assistant.”
1/5 🧵 Microsoft's AI assistant, Copilot, comes to Windows 11's taskbar, offering text rewriting, summarization, and system adjustments. Also expect Bluetooth LE support, new live captions languages, and native RGB control. pic.twitter.com/u58DOHbuJu
— The AI Plug 🔌 (@TheAIPlug) May 23, 2023
Due to its integration into Windows, Copilot offers a wide range of capabilities, such as adjusting settings for improved focus or performing other actions on the PC. This goes beyond the basic Bing Chat link added to the taskbar earlier this year.
Windows Copilot is built upon the same foundation as Bing Chat, enabling developers to extend plug-ins created for Bing or OpenAI’s ChatGPT to this AI-powered assistant. This integration provides Windows Copilot with extensive functionality and allows for future enhancements and improvements created for ChatGPT and Bing to be automatically carried forward.
Microsoft has been teasing the inclusion of AI features in Windows for the past six months. Panay stated earlier this year that “AI is going to reinvent how you do everything on Windows.” While many expected these features to be introduced in the next major Windows release, Microsoft has decided to forge ahead with its Windows AI ambitions by publicly testing Windows Copilot in June and subsequently rolling it out to existing Windows 11 users.
