Microsoft is evolving Copilot in Windows 11 by downgrading it

Martin Brinkmann
Jul 2, 2024
Windows 11 News
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21

Microsoft has just evaporated the small hope that some users may have had that Copilot could become a useful tool to manage the Windows 11 operating system.

When Microsoft first began to introduce Copilot in Windows, it highlighted that the AI would allow users to control and manage certain Windows features. While this was very limited, some users hoped that this would get better over time.

The idea of using an AI companion to assist you when you run into issues or need instructions was appealing to some users.  Microsoft did not deliver until now. Copilot felt slow on Windows, as every request needed to contact a server before an answer was provided.

It looks as things are taking a turn for the worse, as the tiny bit of Windows-specific functionality is being removed.

The latest Windows 11 insider build for the Beta channel introduces a fundamental change that changes Copilot on Windows significantly.

Copilot app Windows 11
The official Copilot app running on Windows 11

Here are the details:

  • Microsoft is removing Copilot's integration in Windows 11 and replaces it with an app.
  • This app is a web-wrapper, which has advantages and disadvantages.
  • One of the main disadvantages is that it is no longer integrated deeply into Windows 11.
  • One of the advantages is that the window can be moved around and resized.
  • Copilot can also be uninstalled easily.

In other words, the few Windows-specific controls you had are no longer available. Ask the new Copilot to enable battery saver, and you get instructions for doing so manually on Windows 10 and 11. Microsoft teased the feature earlier this year as one of the few that could be executed right from the Copilot interface.

Even worse, the new Copilot does not even check the operating system that is used when returning the instructions.

Copilot works exactly like the web version. You can visit the website directly and get the same chat experience there.

Why Microsoft is making the change

Microsoft says that the new web-based wrapper gives it more development flexibility and the ability to optimize experiences based on user feedback. The company did not provide additional details, and the statement sounds more like it has come from marketing than from Microsoft's engineering team.

It is unclear when the change is going to land in Windows 11 Stable. A likely scenario is the release as part of the Windows 11 version 24H2 release later this year.

Closing Words

There is a chance that a future update will introduce controls again, maybe even better controls. The change seems slim at this point though. Maybe Microsoft realized that barely anyone was using the few features that it integrated into the Copilot app.

The only good thing that is coming out of the switching is that Copilot can be easily removed now from Windows 11 and not just disabled.

What is your take on this development? Would you use an AI companion on your devices under certain conditions? Feel free to leave a comment down below. (via Windows Latest)

Summary
Microsoft is evolving Copilot in Windows 11 by downgrading it
Article Name
Microsoft is evolving Copilot in Windows 11 by downgrading it
Description
Microsoft has just evaporated the small hope that some users may have had that Copilot could become a useful tool to manage the Windows 11 operating system. 
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on July 12, 2024 at 11:34 pm
    Reply

    and a lot of people will have to reformat their pc’s because of the crap from rip off microsoft

  2. Anonymous said on July 12, 2024 at 11:33 pm
    Reply

    suit suit suit microsft for spying and it is worst in windows 11 they are stealing our info with ai and copilot and recall that is theft is Deceit and robbing the people of their info

  3. Sam said on July 5, 2024 at 2:34 pm
    Reply

    Copilot+ does not know whether it is running on Windows 10 or 11, on arm or x86, or even whether it is connected to the Internet! Even where it does suggest a fix to some problem, it cannot carry out its own instructions, still less, reverse them if they do not work.

    Worse still, I cannot think how Microsoft can re-integrate copilot+ without demonstrating that they can “see” into all our windows.

    This leaves it open to the mobile phone companies to produce the first general purpose consumer product, all of whose features can made usable by a helpful AI.

  4. Anonymous said on July 3, 2024 at 9:18 pm
    Reply

    First they release it “MY privacy” and you start crying about it.
    Now they make it an app, “oh they are downgrading it”
    and if they integrated it more like recall you would complain about how Ai blabla my privacy blabla, like if anyone cared what you all do in your lives.

    Pretty dumb stances… which means Microsoft can’t win with the clowns, especially the ones that supposedly don’t even use Windows.

    Where did Microsoft say they would remove OS integration? releasing and app, has nothing to do with OS integration or not, I don’t know how a ‘supposed tech blog’ can’t even understand that.

    There is no post about it, so you are just making stuff up, when there is no official blog about the integration co-pilot has on Windows. Plus only because it is an ‘app’ doesn’t mean the APIs and all stop working, but I guess it is too much to expect from people who just write clickbait titles.

  5. Coranth said on July 3, 2024 at 9:05 pm
    Reply

    Gee, where have I seen this before? Ah, yes, with Cortana. Microsoft adds garbage to Windows that people don’t want. Finds the garbage doesn’t do well or sell well. Cuts it down or removes it before it even had a chance to TRY to do well. Then they jump on the next big thing and the cycle repeats. All an Operating System for a Computer really needs to do is stay out of the way so you can do your work, or play your games in peace.

  6. Kalmy said on July 3, 2024 at 3:31 pm
    Reply

    It’s very early in the AI game. In the future AI will be all there is to work with. Not looking forward to it.

  7. Sam said on July 3, 2024 at 12:47 pm
    Reply

    I bought a surface 11, thinking that voice control via copilot+ would compensate for the complexity of Windows, and lack of a keyboard.
    I am now thinking of returning it and waiting for iOS to boost Siri, or for an AI controlled Android to be developed.

    I would be very interested in anybodies comments, on …
    The value (or not) of AI for Windows,
    Whether Microsoft can afford to demonstrate its ability to allow one application window to see and affect what is happening in another application and window; Or
    Whether Microsoft will allow its AI to help overcome problems created by its own security AI.

  8. John said on July 3, 2024 at 12:42 pm
    Reply

    I don’t see AI as anymore then a overhyped over promised and under delivered product that so far only slightly has managed to find real trustworthy use cases in reality. It may eventually return better use cases but at what cost in energy consumption and data collection.

    1. Seeprime said on July 3, 2024 at 3:41 pm
      Reply

      If updates existed here, John has mine. He nailed it.

  9. bruh said on July 3, 2024 at 11:40 am
    Reply

    “One of the advantages is that the window can be moved around and resized.”

    This is not an inherent advantage of web-wrappers, all programs that have a window allow this, unless explicitly restricted, sounds like Microsoft restricted it, that’s all.

    Sorry to be pedantic.

  10. TelV said on July 3, 2024 at 11:35 am
    Reply

    Apparently, AI consumes a huge amount of water, billions of cubic meters of the stuff in fact. Maybe it’s the cost factor which determines what Microsoft does with AI: https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.03271

    Corporate America is squarely aimed at screwing the rest of us all in the name of profit and seeing it all flow down the drain in ever increasing quantities is not quite what they had in mind.

  11. Tachy said on July 3, 2024 at 6:20 am
    Reply

    I would love an AI assistant like the one in OS1 in the movie Her

    “IF”

    it ran on my system and didn’t send every scrap of data it could to the likes of M$ or G.

  12. Richard Steven Hack said on July 3, 2024 at 4:40 am
    Reply

    Overhype and under-produce and charge the Earth. Bill Gates’ business model since he got out of college.

    1. bruh said on July 3, 2024 at 10:57 am
      Reply

      Yep let’s just forget that Microsoft used to be decent and fairly stable back in the day, as well as filled with functional win32/wpf apps which loaded instantly and had a minimal if any internet connectivity. It’s not like there was no competence at all involved in their success. It might be trendy to say “Windows sucks and has always sucked” but that’s just not even true.

      This is why you have to ignore the windows fanboys and the linux proselytizers, both are unhinged in different ways, and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

    2. Allwynd said on July 3, 2024 at 5:52 am
      Reply

      I wish something suddenand irreversible will happen and Windows itself will have to be abandoned and work on it seize completely, as well as Microsoft to disappear along with it.

  13. Copilot365 said on July 3, 2024 at 3:20 am
    Reply

    Yay! Cortana and I are going to the trash, as planned. I will be deprecated during the next few years.

  14. really really really wanna zigazig ah said on July 2, 2024 at 9:51 pm
    Reply

    Billions of dollars and this is the best they can do?

    M$ must be DEEP inside the military and government.

    Clearly their products are complete SHIT.

    Someone needs to form a group to tour places and talk about Linux. Linux needs some real advertising dollars behind it.

  15. John G. said on July 2, 2024 at 6:15 pm
    Reply

    They the own MS’s guys are not able today to control W11 itself and they wanted to leave the control of W11 to Copilot that is unable to find a tomato inside a bottle of ketchup. Nice try.

  16. Peter Parker Kent said on July 2, 2024 at 5:54 pm
    Reply

    […] “Copilot can also be uninstalled easily.”
    …And that brought a smile to my face. Christmas came early this year. :-)

    1. Bob said on July 2, 2024 at 10:00 pm
      Reply

      A definite win!

  17. Anonymous said on July 2, 2024 at 5:43 pm
    Reply

    it is a big fat load of crap

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