Microsoft is betting with everything on Artificial Intelligence, and has promised to integrate it into a large number of products and services. Not only in those intended for companies and professionals. It is also going to bring AI to those intended for consumption. He’s even going to incorporate it into windowsthat towards the end of this year will comment to offer a new assistantknown simply as Windows Copilot.
It will not be Microsoft’s first assistant in consumer products, which has been incorporating Clippy for quite some time, or Cortana, activated by voice to get more out of the system and its applications. But from Redmond they point out that Copilot will be deferential. It won’t burst across the screen like Clippy, or talk to users like Cortana.
But it can become the tool that allows users, both end consumers and professionals, to have more facilities to use all the functions of the system, and to adjust its configuration to the maximum and that functions exactly as each user wants and needs. In this case, it will only be Windows 11.
Microsoft announced the future release of Windows Copilot at its Build event a few days ago, without offering excessive details about how it would work. Then it focused its function on the increase in productivity that it was going to allow professionals and software developers, but it did not say much about the facilities it would provide to make work more agile and simple.
Furthermore, Windows Copilot can allow an average user to perform operations with his computer that are unthinkable today. Or perform actions that most users think can be done with their computer. That is, in the words of a company representative «would be a way to instruct your device to do what it should have always done«. What can this mean? Well, among other things, it is possible that going around a thousand times between system configuration screens will be, sooner rather than later, a thing of the past.
For now they are only assumptions because Windows Copilot is not yet available and until June 11 there will be no access to its trial version for Windows 11. Those who want it, as long as they are part of the Windows Insider program, can try it for free. But before you can start using it, Microsoft has already let some of its features and functions slip away.
Copilot for Windows 11: What we know so far
As with the Artificial Intelligence assistants that have been appearing in recent months, users will be able to ask Windows Copilot anything they need to know, or ask it to do certain operations. Exactly the same as with other AI chatbots. Only that Windows Copilot will be able to make changes to the system on its own, or interact with applications, depending on the request made in each case.
Windows Copilot will take care of carrying out various tasks, including some that are considered quite complex. Also to answer factual questions when prompted. And with the help of various plugins developed and designed by some companies outside of Microsoft, Copilot can perform various operations with third-party apps. For example, open Spotify and play lists.
So far, nothing that greatly differentiates it from an assistant. But Copilot will be able to perform tasks at a much deeper level of the computer. That means, among other things, interacting with files stored on the hard drive. Not with everyone, mind you. It remains to be seen what types of files it will be able to operate with.
But, for example, if you drag an audio file to the side taskbar from which Windows Copilot will be accessed, it will offer to transcribe its content. Therefore, you can easily take care of converting audio to text with a few clicks. Doing the same thing with a text document can cause Copilot to ask if you want it to summarize its content.
For users who are not experts in Windows 11, Copilot can also be of great help, since it will “know” better its more complex features and options. For example, you can send written messages to the assistant to program an alarm, or to change the visual environment of the computer for another that you prefer for a specific activity. It can also be in charge of organizing the windows that are running. He can even teach you how to use certain tools.
Basically: if there is something a user needs to do with the system, and they don’t know where to start, or how to do it, they just have to ask Windows Copilot to do it for them. Of course, it may not all be so simple, since as it is happening with other assistants, it can fail. Copilot can give wrong answers, something that will probably improve over time. However, its arrival sounds like a tool that computer users will take advantage of and benefit from.
This is all that can be seen so far from the assistant. If it’s capable of more, Microsoft isn’t letting loose on it just yet. It may be, in part, because their managers don’t know how users, both professionals and consumers, are going to use Copilot. In fact, they want to learn from users, and Panos Panay, Product Manager of the companyhas asked people to try Copilot so they and the company can learn from each other.
On the other hand, Microsoft has not planned the specific storage of user interactions with Copilot. Of course, as they acknowledge, this could change, although the company assures that before doing so they would notify their users.
Windows Copilot is also not designed to go through the contents of files. And although some of its functions, such as the ones we have seen for transcribing audio or making summaries, require the assistant to interact with certain files on the computer, any similar situation in these and other cases will require the explicit consent of the user.
At the moment there is not much else available about Windows Copilot. We will have to wait until its general availability, or at least, until we get access to the trial version. Regarding its effectiveness, Microsoft is cautious, although fairly optimistic, because they believe that this time they have hit the key to create an assistant that really makes life easier for its users.
