Microsoft is giving Windows 11 a much-needed AI boost by adding new features that might help transform how you use your PC. Let’s dive right in.
Microsoft’s latest event introduced refreshed Surface devices, including the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3. While the company seems to have cut down on the Surface laptops, it has upped the ante when integrating AI into the Windows 11 operating system.
This new updated version of Windows 11, codenamed Windows 11 23H2, will be available to download starting September 26 in preview form. Interestingly, Apple is also releasing the macOS Sonoma, which has been in beta for some time, for the public on the same day. Windows 11, however, will take more time to be available to the users.
That said, AI is the talking point here, and Microsoft has thrown in a fair share of AI-powered services and applications intending to improve the overall user experience.
Here are some AI-injected features that Microsoft wants to be your companion for everyday usage.
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is the most significant talking point of this update. It is basically what Cortana always aspired to be. Microsoft killed Cortana last month, and the latest build of Windows 11 will not include it at all.
This AI-powered tool brings the Bing Chat to Windows and lets you perform various tasks using Windows-specific commands.
Copilot will be available directly from your desktop. It can help you with basic tasks like suggesting a Spotify playlist based on your preference to complex functions like pointing to a specific folder and creating a blog post based on its contents.
Since it is being deeply integrated into the Windows 11 operating system, you can ask Copilot to launch the app and perform specific tasks related to this app. For example, if you want to open Microsoft Outlook, check the incoming mail, and respond to a specific one, you can ask Copilot.
Microsoft says that Copilot will only improve over time based on the contextual information you can access.
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Copilot will be available on the desktop and can be summoned with a Win key + C keyboard shortcut and will be able to perform tasks based on text and voice commands.
Microsoft Paint
Everyone’s favorite Microsoft Paint is also getting AI-super powers. Left to die in oblivion, Paint has a new shot in the arm.
The paint was often used to create cute little digital paintings, and it will get enhancements to support AI-powered drawings and content creation. Among other features, AI will help Paint remove background from images easily and slice layers to create composite images you’ve been doing with Photoshop.
While Paint still won’t be able to take on the likes of Photoshop and others, coupled with other minor updates, it will be more than a handy tool in the future.
Most importantly, Microsoft will lend generative-AI-like powers to Paint. It will be able to create images based on the text input. Though Bing Chat already does that with the help of Dall-E 2, with the Dall-E 3 on the horizon, the Paint app stands to become an extremely powerful tool.
Photos
Photos is yet another Windows native application that will benefit from AI. Microsoft is adding AI-powered features to help fine-tune the images or edit them whenever required.
The Photos app helped preview and crop images; however, you can do much more going forward. Features like Background Blur will help highlight the subject by adding depth of field to the image in a single click.
Microsoft is also improving the search feature within Photos to help users locate images in OneDrive based on the image’s content. The company is also adding an option to find images based on the location where these images were shot.
Others
One of the other features and applications that will become more powerful with the help of AI the Snipping Tool, which can extract text from a screenshot thanks to its newly gained Optical Content Recognition powers. At the same time, the good old and trusted Notepad will be able to save your text when you close the PC and will let you resume from where you left off when you restart.