Beyond the launch of new features for PCs Copilot+ AI and the 2024 update of Windows 11 Home, Microsoft is also revamping its Copilot AI on the Net, mobile and desktop computers. This includes a slightly friendlier interface wherever you access it, as well as new features like Copilot Voice, which lets you speak conversationally with the AI assistant. Ultimately, Microsoft is aiming for Copilot to be seen as more than an easy party trick for generative AI search and image creation: it’s trying to make it an essential part of your workflow daily.
This starts with a cleaner, simpler user interface that gives Copilot a different feel from a boring old search engine. This new look arrives today on Copilot on the Net, iOS, Android and Home windows. You will also be able to access Copilot from Whatsapp which could be useful if you want to avoid Meta’s AI assistant.
Microsoft also plans to release more experimental AI features through Copilot Labs, similar to how Google gave users access to early features with its own labs. There’s Copilot Imaginative and prescient, which lets the AI see everything you see in Edge, and Assume Deeper, a method for Copilot to work harder on more complex dilemmas. Both features also have the potential to create new privacy and security concerns, but Microsoft appears to have learned a bit from its haphazard rollout of Recall to Copilot+ PCs. Notably, these Copilot Labs offers will only be available to people paying for Copilot Professional subscriptions.
Microsoft says Copilot Imaginative and prescient classes are “voluntary and ephemeral” and nothing is stored for AI training. All data related to your session is deleted once you are finished. The feature also won’t work on all websites, but only on a “limited list of popular websites.” And Microsoft notes that Copilot only interprets the images and text you see on a website; it does not perform any major content processing. The company also plans to take feedback from early adopters, refine security measures, and “keep privacy and accountability at the center of everything we do.”
There’s no doubt that Microsoft needs to rebuild trust with its users after the botched rollout of Recall, a feature that was supposed to help you find everything you did on your computer, but which had gaping security holes from the start. “Ultimately, users want to trust whatever happens with sensitive data caches,” said Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows Home at Microsoft, when asked about the lessons the company learned from the recall fiasco. He added that he believes the company has “gone above and beyond” to create that trust by setting new security standards for Recall.
Less controversial features are also coming: Copilot Day by day uses Copilot Voice to provide a summary of news, weather, and potentially reminders about daily tasks. From the demos we’ve seen, it looks a lot like a morning podcast designed just for you. Copilot Uncover, for its part, will give you advice on which AI features to use (shown in the sixteenth screen above), based on the Microsoft services you have used in the past.
Personally, I’m still a little ambivalent about Microsoft’s near-instant transformation into an AI company. This is especially true since we’re still experiencing inaccuracies and other issues with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which Microsoft relies on to power Copilot. These Copilot features seem a bit more useful than an optimized search engine, but the company still needs to prove that it can build AI features with rock-solid security and privacy.
As with virtually all AI products these days, Microsoft is also staggering the release of these Copilot features. Copilot Voice and Day by day launch today, but Voice will only be available in English in the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Copilot Day by day, meanwhile, currently only works in the United States and the United Kingdom. Copilot Imaginative and prescient is heading to Labs in the coming days for a “limited number” of Copilot Professional subscribers, while Assume Deeper is available to Professional users in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
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